I AM a faculty member of Hazara University, Mansehra. I went abroad for a PhD under faculty development programme of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.

After doing my PhD, I returned to my alma mater and joined my department. Since my arrival 16 other faculty members have returned from abroad after completing their higher studies. We were shocked on return. We face a lot of problems in our institute. The university administration has refused to give us our remaining dues. The point to be noted here is that we were on paid leave but the university has stopped our salaries.

The second and most important issue is that the university administration has denied us any promotions. We still work as lecturers and the university has not advertised positions for us. University administration has hired superannuated people on contract, despite clear orders from the Supreme Court.

To protect itself from courts, the university administration has now hired all the superannuated people as consultants.

Although now legally they are just consultants, they work in the same capacity as heads of the department. Isn’t this unfair?

On the one hand, those who did PhDs from the world’s best institutes have no work to do, these superannuated people are deciding their faith. The administration is playing with the courts and laws of the country.

I request Governor Masood Kausar of Khyber Paktunkhwa, who is also a legal expert, to take notice of the issue and bound all the institutions to abide by the law.

I also request the chief justice to take suo motu action on the issue and help us. We demand payment of our dues and removal of these superannuated people from administrative positions.

A FACULTY MEMBER (Name withheld on request) Hazara University Mansehra