Seven VCs appointed; eight approved by CM

LAHORE
Higher Education Department (HED) Punjab on Thursday notified the appointment of Vice-Chancellors (VCs) for seven public universities of the province, although the chief minster had approved the appointment of eight VCs.
For the first time, the department also made “bi-annual performance evaluation mechanism” mandatory for the new VCs which would be separately notified by HED along with the terms and conditions of appointments of VCs. Dr Hassan Amir Shah has been appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Government College University (GCU) Lahore, Dr Rauf-i-Azam as VC of University of Education Lahore, Dr Tahir Amin as VC of Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) Multan, Dr Muhammad Khalique Ahmed as VC of Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dr Talat Afza as VC of Government Sadiq College Women University, Bahawalpur, Dr Samina Amin Qadir as VC of Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) Rawalpindi and Dr Athar Mahboob as VC of Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology Rahimyar Khan.
On August 04, the Governor/Chancellor, on the advice of the chief minister, had approved the names of VCs for the above seven universities as well as Dr Sarah Shahid as VC for Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) Lahore. However, the appointment of Dr Sarah has not been notified along with these seven VCs.
Sources at the department said one of the applicants had challenged the approval of Dr Sarah as VC with HED on the ground that she was holding weaker credentials than the complainant. They further said the matter was presently under discussion by the department high-ups owing to which there would be a delay vis-e-vis the appointment of VC for LCWU.
The appointment of VCs, especially for GCU Lahore and University of Education Lahore, came as surprise as HED had given charge of acting VCs to two senior faculty members at both varsities on Wednesday. Prof Dr Muhammad Aslam, most senior professor of GCU, was given charge of Acting VC of GCU and Dr Amin Uddin, principal University of Education’s Dera Ghazi Khan, as Acting VC, University of Education Lahore. The situation seems embarrassing, especially for the acting VC of University of Education who travelling all way from DG Khan had joined the university on Thursday. “This is a king-for-a-day like situation” for the acting VCs, commented a faculty member, requesting not to be named.
The “bi-annual performance evaluation mechanism” has also come as a surprise for the new VCs since there had never been such condition for VCs appointed in the past. Sources privy to the developments said the condition was added on the recommendations of a committee formed by the chief minister to decide the tenure of the VCs.
It is pertinent to mention here that at the time of approval of names of VCs for eight varsities on August 04, the governor/chancellor had also approved the two-year tenure for the VCs. Subsequently, HED prepared a draft ordinance for amendment in acts/ ordinances of these varsities to reduce the tenure of the VCs from four to two years. However the move was resented by faculty members at varsities following which the chief minister formed a seven-member committee which approved four-year tenure for the VCs. The sources said the condition of “bi-annual performance evaluation” was also approved by the committee so that in case the VCs failed to deliver during the first two years then they might be shown the door.