30 VC candidates interviewed

LAHORE: Thirty candidates for the post of Vice-Chancellor of Government College Women University, Faisalabad, were interviewed by the Search Committee here Friday.

Dr Khalid Hameed Sheikh is convener of the Search Committee while its members are former principal of Kinnaird College Dr Mira Phailbus, former principal of NCA Prof Dr Nazish Attaullah, Secretary Higher Education Department (HED) Punjab Momin Agha who is also holding additional charge as Chairperson of Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC).

Earlier in the week, the Search Committee had interviewed candidates for the Government College for Women University, Sialkot and Women University, Multan. The interviews for the University of Home Economics, Lahore, will be held on April 8 which will mark the start of interviews for specialised universities. The other universities in this category include University of Engineering & Technology (UET) Lahore and UET Taxila.

It is pertinent to mention that this is one of the biggest exercises in the province as the Higher Education Department has been finding VCs for 12 public sector universities of Punjab simultaneously. Hundreds of candidates had applied for these posts of which over 250 candidates have been shortlisted for the interviews.

The sources said interviews of candidates for general universities, including Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB), Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) Multan, University of Gujrat, University of Narowal and Government College University, Faisalabad would begin after the interviews for the specialised universities. They said interviews for Lahore College for Women University (LCWU), which were postponed, would be held in the end. Sources privy to the developments said almost 30 candidates for each of these universities were shortlisted by the Search Committee for the interviews. As per previous practice, the Academic Wing of the Higher Education Department has been assisting the Search Committee during the interviews.

The Search Committee will submit panel recommendations of the three most suitable candidates for subsequent appointment of one for each of these universities by the Punjab government.

Pickle, beverage units sealed: Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has sealed two factories for producing adulterated pickle and fake beverages of various popular brands while carrying out a crackdown against them in Lahore and its adjacent area on Friday. The authority confiscated 100,000 kilogram substandard pickle, 14,000 kilogram jam/ fruits preserves and 2,000 fake bottles during the raids, officials said. A team of PFA raided Fiaz Bottle production unit in the Harbanspura area and sealed it for producing fake fizzy carbonated drinks of renowned companies.