Qaim, Ebad sit down to iron out differences

Karachi
Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah met Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan on Monday and had a candid discussion about some of the ‘controversial’ steps of the latter, including the appointment of a new vice chancellor of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) without the CM Secretariat’s approval.
A close aide of the chief minister while talking to The News revealed that a meeting was held on Monday to sort out the misunderstandings which had evolved between the two top constitutional authorities of the province.
The chief minister met the governor at the CM House and both ironed out their differences, so much so that Qaim also invited the governor to a meeting on law and order being held later in the day. “The governor was not supposed to attend the meeting on law and order being chaired by the chief minister,” said the official. “But the chief minister met the governor and invited him to take part in the meeting.”
The lingering bone of contention between the top two officials was the recent appointment of Dr Noshad Shaikh as the new vice chancellor of the DUHS, considered to be the brainchild of the Sindh governor since it was him who had upgraded his alma mater Dow Medical College to a full-fledged public sector health teaching institute.
The aide disclosed that the chief minister shared with the governor his displeasure over the appointment of Noshad Shaikh as the DUHS vice chancellor in “sheer violation” of the recommendation of the CM’s Secretariat and the Sindh Universities Laws (Amendment) Act 2013. The law makes it binding upon the governor, being the chancellor of public sector universities, to appoint the vice chancellor from the names recommended by the provincial government.
Though the CM’s Secretariat had forwarded the name of Prof Dr Saeed Qureshi as the vice chancellor of DUHS, the governor ended up appointing Dr Noshad Shaikh on the post.
The chief minister also expressed his displeasure over the governor’s decision at giving Karachi University VC Dr Muhammad Qaiser the charge of acting DUHS VC, till the appointment of a fulltime vice chancellor was finalised.
The official privy to the meeting said the chief minister informed the governor that the appointment of Dr Qaiser as the acting vice chancellor of DUHS had been inappropriate since the KU VC did not possess the relevant academic qualifications in the field of medicine.
Instead of Dr Qaiser, the CM reportedly said, the governor could have appointed any of the deserving and senior faculty members from DUHS or from any other public sector medical university in Karachi for the charge of acting vice chancellor of DUHS during the intervening period.
Another matter which came under discussion, according to the official, pertained to the frequent meetings at Governor House about the ongoing and new developmental projects in Karachi. He informed the governor that as per the constitution and the adoption of 18th constitutional amendment, the provincial governor had no authority to preside over such meetings on development affairs which fell under the ambit of provincial administration.
The chief minister asserted that previously, the governor with understanding of the Pakistan People’s Party, had been given leverage to hold such meetings on developmental affairs when the Muttahida Quami Movement was a coalition partner of the government and wanted to have stake in the execution of development projects in Karachi.
Just recently, the Sindh governor chaired meetings on the proposed S-III sewerage treatment programme and the solid waste management system being launched for Karachi which was attended by all the relevant government officials.
The governor had also held consultations with the leaders of different sects regarding the observance of a code of conduct by different religious bodies during the upcoming month of Muharram.
The chief minister and the governor also discussed other ‘controversial’ affairs related to the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi, where the controller examinations and chairman, had openly accused each other of corruption. According to the 18th amendment, the controlling authority of public sector examination boards in the province was transferred from the governor to the chief minister.
The official claimed that the chief minister and governor were able to iron out all their differences and decided to work within their jurisdictions.