ISLAMABAD, July 8: The management of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology appointed and promoted over 100 employees against rules and in violation of a February 2011 Supreme Court order during the last two years, it has been learnt.

Besides, the Islamabad and Karachi campuses of the university have set different criteria for appointments on same posts. According to documents available with Dawn, the university management appointed over 20 employees who had retired about five to 10 years back.

Those who were hired at the Karachi campus after reaching the age of superannuation include registrar Dr Qamarul Haq, treasurer Qazi Zaffar Abbas, personal secretary to the vice chancellor Mr Samad, deputy controller Abubakr Saeed, assistant director Zafar Mohiuddin, database in-charge Syed Asghar Ali, audit officer Mohammad Ishtiaq, coordinator Badaruddin Badar, professors Sayal Ali Akbar, Dr Qadeer, Abdul Hakeem and Dr Rehana.

Similar appointments made at the Islamabad campus were faculty deans Dr Noman Jafari, Dr Abdul Salam, Dr Nawab Haider, Naeem Akhtar, Ahmed Ansari, Mohammad Naseem Khan, Waheed Khan, Mohammad Akram, Shafqat Amin and Javaid Kiani.

According to sources, over 80 employees were appointed in violation of rules. Baqar Subhan was first appointed as law officer and then made lecturer.

Fakhira Kashif of the computer science department was initially hired as a lecturer on contractual basis and then upgraded to the post of assistant professor.

Besides, a number of persons who allegedly had reference of university officers or Higher Education Commission (HEC) high-ups were appointed and promoted. They included Tuba Sheikh, Ayesha Shahid, Obaidullah Qureshi, Nasim Khan, Najeebullah Saif, Khalid Mehmood, Yasir Saeed, Shahzad Aziz, Khurram Moeen Rana, Zahoor Ahmed and Adil Awan.

According to the documents, the HEC sent a letter to the VC of the university, Dr Mohammad Qaiser, in October 2010 informing him that faculty members of different universities had raised the issue of appointment of eminent/retired professors as deans and directors at the Urdu university against rules.

An officer of the university requesting not to be named said they had tried to contact all the relevant forums to address the issue and ensure that the irregularities were removed but the VC never bothered to listen to them.

“Although there is a clear order of the Supreme Court that retired persons cannot be reappointed, especially on administrative posts, the management never followed the directive,” he said.

“Some of the faculty members who are over 70 years old are getting over Rs300,000 per month salary, which is a burden on the exchequer. On the other hand, qualified people remain jobless,” he said.

Public relations officer of the university, Nawaz Jillani, told Dawn that the management had been trying to resolve the issues of the university. Just four years back, there were 2,100 students in the university but now their number has reached 3,700.

“Earlier, there were only 37 faculty members but now we have over 140 teachers, out of whom 30 are PhDs. In its ranking, the HEC has put the university at number six,” he said.

Professor Dr Zahid Saleem said the university had 171 sanctioned posts of faculty members but only 143 teachers had been appointed.

Vice Chancellor Dr Mohammad Qaiser, while talking to Dawn, said the university had produced 16 PhDs, which was a big achievement.

“I have never done anything against the rules. It is possible that employees of lower cadre (grade 1 to 4) had been directly appointed, but all officers have been hired after meeting the requirements,” he claimed.

“As far as the registrar of the university and some other officers, who have crossed the age of superannuation, we don’t have their replacements. As soon as we get the replacement we will relieve them,” he said.

ISLAMABAD, July 8: Members of the Alliance for Ending Violence against Women and Girls (EVAWG) have strongly condemned the murder of renowned human rights defender Farida Afridi and demanded