KP govt to appoint VCs for 19 varsities after 2-year delay

PESHAWAR: Following the Supreme Court decision, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has finally decided to appoint vice-chancellors (VCs) for 19 public sector universities across the province after a delay of more than two years.

Sources told The News that the top candidates from the three-member shortlist panels for each university would be officially notified as VCs within a few days.After the completion of the VC appointment process, the Higher Education Department (HED) had forwarded the shortlisted names to the previous caretaker government for approval.

Although the caretaker cabinet approved the names for each university, a senior functionary of the caretaker setup withheld the notifications until the formation of the new elected government after the February 8 general elections.

The sources said the present provincial government found it difficult to defend further delays in the appointments and finally decided to proceed with notifying the candidates recommended by the academic search committee.At present, 24 public sector universities in the province are operating without regular VCs, as the tenures of five more university heads ended on March 16, 2024.

The provincial government also amended the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act, 2012, revising the procedure for VC appointments.Under the previous procedure, the chief minister had no authority in the appointment process, which was entirely in the hands of the academic search committee.

However, following the amendments, the chief minister has replaced the governor as the chancellor of public sector universities and now holds the authority to select any one of the three shortlisted candidates, instead of being bound to the top-ranked nominee.

According to official documents, the following individuals stood on top of the respective panels: Prof Dr Tahir Irfan Khan, Abbottabad University of Science and Technology; Prof Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan; Prof Muhammad Tahir Khan Khalil, Khushal Khan Khattak University, Karak; Prof Dr Aurangzaib Khan, University of Lakki Marwat; Prof Dr Muhammad Ali, Hazara University, Mansehra; Prof Dr Gul Muhammad Khan, University of Engineering and Technology, Mardan; Prof Dr Qaisar Ali, University of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Swat; Prof Dr Dawood Jan, University of Agriculture, Swat; Prof Dr Sardar Khan, University of Shangla; Prof Dr Shakib Ullah, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Swat; Prof Dr Johar Ali, University of Peshawar; Prof Dr Muhammad Sadiq, University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar; Prof Dr Jameel Ahmad, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan; Prof Dr Zahoorul Haq, Bacha Khan University, Charsadda; Prof Dr Syed Badshah, Shuhada Army Public School University, Nowshera; Prof Dr Syed Zafar Ilyas, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat; Prof Muhammad Jahanzaib Khan, UET Bannu; and Prof Dr Ghazala Yasmeen, Women University, Swabi.