PESHAWAR: An anomaly has surfaced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act, 2012 as it confers powers on two different authorities to appoint vice-chancellors of the public sector universities, according to documents.

The anomaly relates to Clause 12 of the KP Universities Act, 2012 and its part-D (c) of schedule-II, which bestow powers upon two different authorities to appoint the vice-chancellors of state-run universities.

The clause, which is related to the appointment and removal of vice-chancellors, states: “The vice-chancellor shall be appointed by the chancellor on the advice of government from a panel of three candidates recommended by the academic search committee.”

The part D (c) of the schedule-II of the Act states: “The academic search committee after interviewing the shortlisted candidates shall recommend a panel of three suitable candidates to the chief executive of the province, who shall recommend one candidate to the chancellor for approval.”

CM, cabinet both empowered to finalise name for the post

Clause 12 is part of the initial Act while part-D (c) of the schedule-II was incorporated in it in 2016 with other major amendments. However, the authorities at the helm of affairs in provincial government noticed it a couple of months ago.

The anomaly was noticed by Chief Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz during the appointment process of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar vice-chancellor that was delayed for around two years without any cogent reason.

Since the implementation of the Act, the chief minister used to approve a name from the panel of three recommended candidates as vice-chancellor for a public sector university by following part D (c) of the schedule-II of the law.

However, the provincial government recently followed section 12 of the law in the appointment of VCs for eight universities and shifted the authority of approving the proposed names on the panel from the chief minister to provincial cabinet.

It is pertinent to mention here that on November 27, the provincial cabinet approved names for the posts of vice-chancellors of eight public sector universities that were recommended by academic search committee.

The cabinet approved appointment of Prof Mohammad Idrees as vice-chancellor for University of Peshawar, Prof Sardar Khan for Kohat University of Science and Technology, Dr Khairuz Zaman for University of Science and Technology Bannu, Dr Bashir Ahmad for Bacha Khan University Charsadda, Dr Shahid Mahmood Baig for University of Swabi, Dr Zahoorul Haq for Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Dr Zafar M Khan for Shuhada-i-APS University of Technology Nowshera and Dr Iftikhar Hussain for University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar.

Interviews for the vacant posts of VCs were conducted on November 17 and 18 by an academic search committee headed by former federal minister and scientist Dr Attaur Rehman. The tenure of regular VCs of eight public sector universities had expired in June and July and since then the pro-vice chancellors officiated the office of the VCs.

After the approval of the cabinet, the summaries for appointment of VCs were forwarded to the governor, who is also chancellor of the public sector universities in the province. The higher education department notified the names of the VCs for each university on Friday last with the final approval of the chancellor.

The adviser to chief minister on higher education, Kamran Bangash, when contacted, said that no legal issue emerged with the anomaly in the law. He said that still the power of appointment rested with the chief minister as he was head of the cabinet.

Asked whether the government had any intention to amend the law to remove the anomaly, he said: “Let see, we will amend it.” He added that after approval of cabinet, the summaries for appointment of VC were forwarded to the governor with the consent of the chief minister.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2020