Call to reduce number of PHEC secretaries

LAHORE
Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, the controlling authority of the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC), has been urged to reduce representation of bureaucracy and private universities’ VCs in PHEC to make the body balanced.
The demand was made in a meeting jointly chaired by Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA) president Naimat Ullah Laghari and Punjab chapter president Prof Dr Hassan Mobeen Aalam, who is also president of PUASA.
PUASA secretary Dr Mehboob Hussain, VP Arts Prof Dr Abid Ch, VP Science Dr Faheem Aftab, Shabbir Sarwar and all executive members attended the meeting. Naimat Ullah Laghari said he was visiting all universities of the country to know the actual problems of teachers and present their genuine demands before HEC chairman and other stakeholders. Prof Dr Hassan Aalam observed that private universities were dominating and affecting the policies and selection of VCs in universities and this imbalance would affect the policymaking.
Dr Mehboob Hussain said teachers would not tolerate four administrative secretaries and three VCs of private universities in PHEC. Shabbir Sarwar said according to legal experts the formation of provincial HECs in the name of 18 Amendment was illegal because the Constitution protects the higher education as a federal subject. Dr Abid Ch said FAPUASA and PUASA need to consult legal experts on the issue because it was a matter of great national interest.