Bacha Khan University: KP govt orders probe into illegal appointments

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has initiated an inquiry into illegal appointments in the Bacha Khan University Charsadda (BKUC).

A committee comprising officers from the Higher Education Department (HED) and the Governor’s Secretariat will investigate the recruitment process. The HED and a member of syndicate had raised serious reservations on the selection process. It was alleged that appointments were made due to favouritism and nepotism.

Around 65 candidates were interviewed in almost six to seven hours and a non-PhD junior staffer evaluated the senior PhD degree-holders. The VC’s wife was also included in the selection board, while the permanent member of the selection board was removed from the board. The syndicate was called hastily to get approvals on the very next day (a Sunday).

While confirming the inquiry orders, Special Assistant to Chief Minister (SACM) for Higher Education Kamran Bangash said that the government had ordered an inquiry and strict action would be taken if any anomaly was found in the selection process.

“We have conducted a detailed meeting on Thursday with the vice-chancellor of the BKUC. All documents and records of the selection board have been collected from the university. The HED and the Governor’s Secretariat will thoroughly check the process and record,” he said.

Kamran Bangash said if any anomaly or illegality is found, the government will take strict disciplinary action against the responsible. The VC told the meeting that all procedures followed in line with merit and if any illegality or favouritism was found, he was liable for any disciplinary action,” he adds.

“All the documents handed over to special secretary HED and additional secretary Governor’s Secretariat to investigate the complaints accordingly,” he said.

Rejecting all allegations, Bacha Khan University Vice-Chancellor Dr Bashir said that all recruitments were made on merit without any irregularities. He said that out of 32 posts, only two MPhil candidates have been recruited and both are teaching at the university for the last eight years.

According to documents, the selection board of the university was held from July 12 to 17, 2021 for hiring of different faculty members. During interviews for the posts of assistant professors, nominees of the Higher Education Department had raised objections that instead of scrutiny all applicants were called for an interview, which was a complete deviation of the rules. More than 65 candidates for Chemistry were interviewed in a limited time, which was humanly impossible.

All subject specialists, including permanent members of the selection board, were nominated from the University of Peshawar. Dr Abdul Naeem, Director NCE in Physical Chemistry, and Prof Dr Syeda Kaniz, College of Home Economics, was also from the University of Peshawar. In interviews for Computer Science, Pharmacy, Physics, and Chemistry, all subject experts were from the University of Peshawar.

The VC’s wife, Dr Shumaila Bashir, professor of Pharmacy, University of Peshawar, also participated as a subject expert. Nominees of the Higher Education Department raised objections not only in the selection board but also in the syndicate regarding experience marks, awarded to the candidates, Dr Salman Jan, recommended for the post of assistant professor TTS Computer Science. Which is a violation of the rules/ qualification criteria, because he lacks teaching/research experience.

The appointment of Dr Salman Jan, on the basis of administrative experience, (assistant registrar at the University of Peshawar) was a violation of rules, hence strongly dissented by the nominee of HED. The decision was also not reflected in the draft minutes of the syndicate. The nominee of HED was not even allowed to check the documents and recommendations of the selection board. The VC strongly resisted sharing documents, on the pretext that it will take a day to check the documents of all candidates and even threatened to postpone the syndicate meeting.

Dr Hussain Gulab, chairman Department of Chemistry and a member of the senate and syndicate, also raised objections over the selection process. He sent a letter to the provincial government to investigate the matter. He alleged that instead of hiring competent PhD applicants, the selection board selected MPhil candidates.

He stated that although KP is full of professors, meritorious professors, and associate professors but still in order to favour his own candidates, a non-PhD person was called as a subject expert to evaluate PhD degree holders for the post of assistant professor in Mathematics. It is a big question mark that how a non-PhD junior person can evaluate senior PhD degree holder candidates? As per the statutes of BKUC, any employee, who is a candidate in a selection board, can never take part in the process of selection board which is a conflict of interest as per rules.

According to his letter, there was more than one case in which a candidate was himself/herself part of one of the committees, was involved in evaluation of publications, was member of the selection board,

The letter revealed that facts concealment was committed by the incumbent VC as a simple MSC who retired as an associate professor was appointed a member of the syndicate. Despite the superior court’s orders, the VC appointed mostly retired friends to various key positions of the university which included director admission, director audit, additional treasurer, director ORIC and director P&D.