GUJRAT: The University of Gujrat (UoG) administration is in deep waters for not complying with the demands of PML-N legislators who are also a part of the UoG syndicate and they have formally registered a ‘complaint’ against the university administration with the government as well as the party leadership.

Dawn learnt a delegation of PML-N lawmakers from Gujrat held a meeting with Hamza Shahbaz Sharif last week and apprised him of their grievances against the university.

A source privy to the meeting said the lawmakers accused the UoG administration of showing reluctance in accommodating their recommended people in the university, especially regarding jobs, though it often obliged the PML-Q leaders which had caused an embarrassing situation for them in their constituencies.

Three members of the Punjab Assembly from Gujrat who are the syndicate members, namely Nawabzada Haider Mehdi, Moin Nawaz Warraich and Haji Imran Zafar, had also charged the university administration with committing irregularities in regularising the jobs of staff despite the fact that the last meeting of the syndicate on April 25 had not endorsed the recommendations made by the selection board. They said the membership of the syndicate was useless for them if they could not get their recommendations implemented.

At this, Hamza Shahbaz asked the delegation to submit a written report on the alleged irregularities in the UoG and four members of the syndicate, including those mentioned above, and another member, Dr Ijaz Basheer, are preparing a report.

The four syndicate members have written a letter to Vice Chancellor Dr Nizamuddin, saying that the syndicate in its last meeting did not endorse the recommendations made by the selection board and that the syndicate could not do that until the registrar presented the details of the advertised posts and the selected candidates. However, they added, the university had issued letters to the selected candidates having the sentence that this selection board had been approved by the syndicate but the fact was otherwise.

The Punjab government had appointed three more legislators belonging to PML-N as syndicate members against the three seats reserved for prominent citizens in addition to the existing three seats for lawmakers nominated by Punjab Assembly speaker for the UoG syndicate.

A UoG official said the extra representation of politicians in the decision-making body of the university was causing inconvenience to the administration to run the affairs due to unnecessary demands of the dominating strength of lawmakers in the syndicate.

He said the PML-N lawmakers were exerting pressure on the university to accommodate the job seekers they recommended even on contract or daily-wage basis which was not possible for the university under the prevailing rules and regulations. A source in the PML-N said that the party lawmakers had launched a campaign against the UoG VC so that he could not get a third term in the office after his second term would end in coming October.

When contacted, PML-N MPA Nawabzada Haider Mehdi denied the reports that they wanted the university to hire the candidates recommended by them. He claimed that they had raised their voice against the irregularities being carried out at UoG.

Meanwhile, UoG VC Dr Nizamuddin has convened another meeting of the syndicate to discuss the issues raised by the members as the meeting and the meeting was likely to be held on June 19 in which the university budget of the next fiscal year would also be presented for approval.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2014