LAHORE: The Punjab University Academic Staff Association (PUASA) on Thursday condemned the Higher Education Department (HED) for stopping vice chancellors of the public sector universities of the province from granting Disparity Reduction Allowance to the teaching and non-teaching staff from June 1, 2021.

PUASA office bearers organised a press conference at PU Executive Club on Thursday. PUASA President Azhar Naeem, general secretary Dr Amjad Abbas Khan Magsi and others were also present.

They said it was a planned move by the bureaucracy to curb the autonomy of the higher education institutions.

The PUASA strongly rejected the letter issued by the HED on March 3, 2022, and demanded immediate withdrawal.

The HED had issued a letter to the vice-chancellor that the universities could not give disparity allowance to teaching and non-teaching employees without getting approval from the governor/chancellor even after taking permission from their Syndicates and Senate bodies.

They said the teaching and non-teaching staff of the universities were deprived of the Disparity Reduction Allowance initiated by the federal government in March 2021 and the Punjab government in June 2021.

PUASA demanded that VCs strongly condemn such notifications, reject them and never compromise on the autonomy of universities.

The body announced holding a general body meeting on March 15 to devise a further strategy in this regard.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2022