KARACHI: The syndicate of the University of Karachi (KU) has approved cases of 54 administrative officers for promotion in a controversial manner, it emerged on Friday.

The decision was made through voting in the syndicate meeting held on Thursday and sources said the majority of these officers were promoted without appearing for their selection boards, a mandatory requirement under the university rules for promotion to grades 18, 19 and 20.

Secondly, they said, the departmental promotion committee which recommended their cases for promotion, didn’t have a member nominated by the syndicate, as required under the committee’s rules. Rather, the syndicate member on the committee was nominated by the vice chancellor.

Source said the Incentive Scheme under which their cases were considered could be used for promotion of an officer only once. However, in the case of these employees, most of them had been promoted multiple times on the basis of this scheme.

They also questioned promotion of at least 16 officers to grade 20 at a time when the university faces financial crunch.

They said the proceedings of the statutory body saw long debate on the issue with at least five members including the vice chancellor voting in favour of the promotions, four voting against while one member didn’t participate in the voting.

During the debate, sources said, some members questioned why ‘special favour’ was being shown to certain officers while cases of dozens of teachers for promotion had been rejected on the ground that no budgeted posts existed for appointment.

Highlighting teachers’ reservations over the process after the meeting, Dr Riaz Ahmed, senior KU teacher and syndicate member, said: “Multiple violations have been committed for promotion of these employees. One of them even attended the syndicate meeting where his case was being considered.”

It’s high time that the authorities take notice of this blatant nepotism on the KU campus and ensure merit in appointments and promotions, he said.

“Cases of at least 40 teachers, who have passed their selection boards, are not being considered by the university on the ground that their budgeted posts don’t exist. In this case, 54 officers have been promoted without posts. This is totally illegal,” he said.

Upon contact, an official of the university’s public relations department clarified that the matter pertained to the ‘up-gradation of officers’ and not promotion.

“Their cases, pending since 2018, were approved by the departmental promotion committee (during meetings held over the last few years). The pay-scale and grades of these employees have been enhanced while their job titles will remain unchanged,” he said.

About their selection boards, he said that the university had rules under which the departmental committee considered cases for promotion/up-gradation if selection boards couldn’t be held in time.

“Some teachers’ couldn’t get promotion because the university doesn’t have relevant budgeted posts,” he said in reply to another question.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2024