ICU registrar not allowed to resume duties in violation of PHC orders

PESHAWAR: The acting administration of the historic Islamia College University in blatant defiance of Peshawar High Court Orders has declined to allow the regular registrar of the institution Dr Tauqeer Alam to resume his office.

The honourable court in a contempt of court petition decided recently that Dr Tauqeer Alam should continue discharging his responsibilities as registrar of the university. Dr Tauqeer submitted a formal request to the vice-chancellor to allow him resuming his duties in line with the court orders. In his letter to acting vice-chancellor Dr Naushad Khan, the registrar said: “I have not yet received any written reply from you to my letter. I would like to remind you that Peshawar High Court has allowed me to continue my duty as registrar. I submitted attested copy of the order sheet along with request for resuming my responsibility as registrar. But your representative in the Registrar office Dr Tariq Jan did not allow me to resume my duties as per court orders. It reminded to get the registrar office vacated from the usurper and give a response to my request.”

The vice-chancellor, however, instead of giving a response to the registrar convened a meeting of the likeminded teaching staff and other members of the university administration. After the meeting, all the locks of the registrar office were reportedly changed. The acting administration of the university has been playing with the rules, regulations and court directives since it managed to acquire the interim charge with the support of the teaching staff till appointment of regular vice-chancellor of the university. In a glaring example of personal likes and dislikes, acting vice-chancellor Dr Naushad Khan first removed a number of permanent officials from their positions and replaced them with teachers in violation of Universities Act. Dr Tauqeer Alam was one of those officers whose removal was not only illegal but also a violation of a previous order of the Peshawar High Court. The administration has been badly failed to overcome problems of the university and instead it has got involved in politics. During the ongoing closure the university administration instead of extending support to its own employees has preferred to do politics. Financial issues at the university have also worsened. The university has failed to pay salaries to the contractual employees, class-III, class-IV employees and even the sanitation staff.