KP vice chancellors seek scrapping of new law

ISLAMABAD: Rejecting the KP Universities (Amendment) Act 2015, the vice chancellors of 15 public sector universities have written a letter to the Governor KP Sardar Mehtab Abbasi asking him to scrap the “odious law” that will make the province a “laughing stock” for others.
The letter signed by the vice chancellors of these universities, a copy of which is available with The News, says that the law passed by the provincial assembly last week makes fundamental changes in university governance and allows unwarranted political and governmental inroads in its affairs.
Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA) has already rejected the bill.“We believe that this odious law will not only harm the universities, but will make our province a laughing stock for others. Devoid of rationale, common sense fair play and equity, it also is ultra vires in many places, and against the constitution of Pakistan,” the letter says. “Laws must be benign, just and equitable. This bill badly falters on all these touchstones,” it adds.
The letter says the bill is based on the false premise that vice chancellors are running amok and need to quickly constrain.
“Indeed, the bill smacks of person specific, amateur effort to shoe-in those as vice chancellors who would not qualify a fair competitive test for selection, and eliminate those that are desired to be removed come what may,” the letter says.
Through the letter the vice chancellors requested the governor to call a conference of all stakeholders on this important issue.“As chancellor of universities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, we are looking towards you to right this legal flaw that is perpetrated in the name of reforms in higher education,” the letter says.Earlier the vice chancellors deliberated on KP Universities (Amendment) Bill 2015 thoroughly which was passed on May 8, 2015 by the KPK provincial assembly. They have shown serious reservations on eligibility criteria for appointment of vice chancellors and reduction of their term to three years.
The VCs strongly objected to the procedure for removal of vice chancellors through simple majority of votes in Senate. “It is an irony that such cavalier removal of VCs is easier than the removal of the lowest rank employees in the public sector.”
They also termed the performance and financial audit of the universities through a third party (private audit) blatant violation of the constitution of Pakistan under which universities’ audit is the sole prerogative of the Higher Education Commission.They said restricting class-4 in a university to its geographical jurisdiction is not only inequitable but also against the constitution of Pakistan.