ISLAMABAD, Oct 23: The government is yet to appoint a new chairperson of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The government is imposing new cuts on the annual budgetary allocations of the HEC, and the delay in the appointment of its new chairman is causing lot of anxiety among top officials of the commission, a senior official of the HEC told Dawn.

Though people are coming to their offices, they spend most of the time guessing who would be their new chief, and how the commission would be run, because so far, Dr Attaur Rehman, due to his close working relation with the former president Pervez Musharraf, made it a well-funded government department.

In 2002, when the University Grants Commission was converted into Higher Education Commission (HEC) through a presidential ordinance, its budget was around Rs400 to Rs500 million. At present, it is well over Rs20 billion. Thousands of students were sent to foreign universities for higher education and varsity teachers were given handsome salary packages.

Although the HEC executive director is the one who takes care of its administrative and official business, the chairperson provides policy guidelines.

Dr Attaur Rehman, the outgoing chairman of the commission, had resigned and sent his resignation to the Prime Minister Secretariat on October 9. The very next day, he vacated his office and formally met his colleagues to say goodbye. “Since, his leaving the office, the authorities at the Higher Education Commission have their fingers crossed about the appointment of their new boss,” the official said.

The government itself asked Dr Attaur Rehman to resign, and now it is taking so much time to decide on the new name. It is something beyond anybody’s comprehension at the commission, the official said. Dr Atta had two years left in his contract as chairperson of the HEC.

Though a couple of PPP loyalists are being tipped as frontrunners for this post, the government is yet to finalise a name.

National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) Chairman Asim Hussain, a medical doctor; and Dr Javaid Leghari, a PPP senator and president of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Shaheed Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), are being tipped as the next HEC chairman which carries the status of federal minister.

When contacted, Zahid Bashir, press secretary to the prime minister, said the government was yet to take any decision in this regard.

According to HEC’s ordinance, the prime minister is the appointing authority of the HEC chairperson who can appoint any person of “international eminence and proven ability who has made significant contribution to the higher education as teacher, researcher or administrator on such terms and conditions as it may determine”.