Islamia College University Senate removes registrar, director student affairs

PESHAWAR: The Senate of Islamia College University in a hurriedly called meeting decided to remove the registrar and director students affairs of the university on the basis of a Governor Inspection Team (GIT) report, which was not part of the agenda of the meeting that had been convened in violation of rules of business, reliable sources told The News on Sunday.

The meeting was held at the Governor’s House on October 11 with Governor Shah Farman, who is also chancellor of public sector universities, in the chair.

The meeting had been convened by the Governor’s Secretariat and the provincial higher education department in such haste that even the rules of business for the purpose had been bypassed. According to the rules, even an emergency meeting can’t be convened before a three-day notice. For an ordinary Senate meeting, 15 days are required to fix for agenda according to rules of business.

The sources said a notification calling the 10th meeting of the university’s Senate on emergency basis was circulated on the afternoon of October 9 to be held on October 11 with just one-day gap. The meeting was basically called in response to a May 31, 2019 letter from the university calling upon the Governor Secretariat to fix Senate meeting for presenting the budget, the sources said.

However, the meeting that was supposed to discuss and approve the university’s budget took up the GIT report regarding alleged anomalies in appointment of some senior officers of the university even though it was not on the agenda.

Dr Naushad, acting vice-chancellor of the university, could not be reached for his comments. His response to a message was that he was in a meeting and in a subsequent message he said he was attending a funeral prayer. Later, he did not pick up his phone. Nizamuddin Khan, principal secretary to Governor, when reached on phone avoided comment on the issue. He said the press secretary of the governor should be approached.

However, an elected member of the university’s Senate confirmed that the GIT report was tabled in the meeting and it was decided that the appointment of the Registrar Tauqeer Alam (BS 20) and director students’ affairs Dr Muradullah (BS 20) had been made in an illegal manner. The member added that it was decided to remove the two officials and initiate action against the selection boards which approved their appointments.

The GIT, according to sources, had initiated the inquiry into the alleged anomalies in the appointment of four BPS 20 officers in the university - registrar, director ORIC, director students’ affairs and treasurer in April, 2018.

The selection board had examined at least 19 candidates as per GIT report and of them Dr TauqeerAlam had been appointed as registrar, Dr Muradullah as director students’ affairs, Zafar Ahmad astreasurer and Owais Adnan as director ORIC. However, Zafar Ahmad left after some time and Owais Adnan did not join the university, the sources said.

The GIT report had raised objections on procedure of appointments in which some violations were pointed out, the sources informed.

The matter was later put before two emergency meetings of the university Syndicate, which was the actual appointing authority of the officers. The matter was still pending before the Syndicate, when all of a sudden it was tabled before the Senate, which was not the right forum for the purpose and removal of the two senior officers was decided, the sources added.

Even if the matter was tabled before the Senate, it should have followed the right procedure by referring the case to the Syndicate, which too cannot remove or repatriate BS 20 officers in such a manner. It would have to initiate inquiry, serve show-cause notices to officers, the selection board and the scrutiny committee and provide them a chance to explain their position before any action is taken against them, the sources said.

The senate meeting also approved Rs153 million deficit budget of the university after a brief discussion.