KARACHI: Nine senior female professors have emerged as potential candidates for the post of acting vice chancellor of Karachi University (KU) that currently has no teacher in BPS-22, it emerged on Wednesday.

Only on Tuesday, the Sindh High Court had directed KU administration to send to the chief minister names of 10 senior most professors in BPS-22 in accordance with the seniority list so that he could nominate one of them as the acting VC.

The nine female teachers are: Prof Nasira Khatoon (also the dean of science), Prof Samina Bano, Prof Shagufta Shehzadi, Prof Nusrat Idrees, Prof Shaista Tabassum, Prof Anjum Parveen, Prof Shehnaz Dawer, Prof Hajra Tahir and Prof Rehana Saeed.

Prof Nasiruddin Khan is ranked 10th in the list.

Sources said the university seniority list had gained importance after the decision of the SHC hearing a set of petitions challenging the appointment procedure of KU vice chancellor.

Asked about any senior teachers holding BPS-22, senior KU teachers said all full-professors were given BPS-21. Only two per cent of these professors, they pointed out, received BPS-22 through a process duly approved by the Higher Education Commission.

In recent years, three senior professors — Prof Moonis Ahmer, Prof Jamil Hasan Kazmi and Prof Nasreen Aslam Shah — were in BPS-22 and they had retired.

The teachers appreciated that the court had ordered appointment of acting VC from the senior most professors and reconstitution of the search committee.

These steps, they said, were needed to uphold the principles of merit and transparency as two members of the search committee were former KU VCs — Prof Mohammad Qaiser and Prof Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui — under whom incumbent acting VC Prof Khalid Mehmood Iraqi served as an adviser.

In addition, they said, there was a conflict of interest as Prof Iraqi was among the applicants vying for the post of vice chancellor.

The teachers were of the view that all “illegal” decisions taken by Prof Iraqi as acting VC should be declared null and void as an acting charge was for a temporary period that did not give the authority to make important decisions that can have far-reaching implications on an institution.

“For instance, chairing meetings of selection boards and boards of governors, making appointments and promotions...the acting vice chancellor has been doing this for over two years now,” a teacher told Dawn on the condition of anonymity.

The sources said the university administration had received the court orders, but there were conflicting information about Prof Iraqi’s next step.

Some sources suggested that he was preparing to challenge the court order while others said he had sent names of senior professors to the chief minister today for appointment of acting vice chancellor.

Prof Iraqi has been on an acting charge since May 2019. His appointment was very much against the principles of merit and court rulings under which the senior most university professor should be given the top slot in the interim period till the government made a regular appointment. Prof Iraqi was at 27th number on the seniority list when then VC passed away.

In June 2019, the government advertised the vacant post of vice chancellor, but later issued a corrigendum in which the criteria relating to experience, research work and age was changed, apparently to benefit a few candidates.

The government had to revert to the old eligibility criteria on the orders of the court, which directed it to consider all applicants for the post.

Sources said the government adopted another strategy to delay the process by asking one of the candidates to get his research papers verified from the HEC. The candidate challenged this in court that directed the relevant authorities to get papers of all applicants verified by the HEC.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2022