GUJRAT: The University of Gujrat (UoG) administration has allegedly disbursed at least Rs100 million as evening allowance among faculty and staff ‘disproportionately’ during the last five years in violation of UoG Act 2003.

The UoG syndicate had approved evening allowance in 2015 for faculty and administrative staff, however, a major portion [of the allowance] was disbursed among administrative staff allegedly with ‘unfair’ rates than as envisaged by the syndicate.

Prominent recipients of the evening allowance include former vice-chancellors Dr Shabbar Atiq (Rs4.7m), Dr Faheem Malik (Rs2.2m) and Dr Ziaul Qayyum (Rs1.1m).

Other beneficiaries include ex-registrar Dr Tahir Aqil (Rs1.5m), Muhammad Raees Ashraf (Rs2.2m), former treasurers Abdul Waheed Butt (Rs1.5m) and Muhammad Ashfaq (Rs1.2m) and controller examination Tanzila Qamar (Rs2.38m).

Current officials also benefitted, including VC Dr Mushahid Anwar (Rs1.4m), registrar Naeem Butt (Rs1.5m) and additional treasurer (Rs2.6m).

The registrar, controller examination and treasurer received collectively over Rs15 million in violation of UoG Act 2003 where it is clearly mentioned that these statutory positions are whole-time officers under section 15(1), 16(1) and 17(1) of Act Ibid.

Senior staff members of the VC and registrar’s offices also received hefty amounts for evening academic activities.

According to official documents, the syndicate had initially approved a nominal amount of Rs2,000 per programme per department for an entire semester. Teaching heads working evening shifts were granted Rs4,000 to Rs6,000 per semester. However, administrative departments allegedly inflated claims by multiplying the nominal rate across all university programmes, resulting in disbursements worth millions.

In 2017, the syndicate approved specific evening allowance rates, including Rs3,000 per degree programme for the VC, Rs2,000 for deans and administrative officers (registrar, controller, treasurer), Rs1,500 for department heads and Rs1,000 for auditors. By 2021, allowances were revised, including Rs15,000 per semester for grade 1-10 staff.

A deputy registrar, Bakhat Nawaz, filed a formal request on Nov 5 for records regarding these allowances through the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013.

Official sources said that the said deputy registrar had also once been the beneficiary of evening allowance and honorarium but was deprived of it for the last couple of years and feeling aggrieved he filed the application with the Punjab information commissioner.

When contacted, VC Dr Mushahid Anwar told Dawn that there was nothing wrong or unlawful in the disbursement of the allowances as the varsity syndicate had approved evening allowance for the entire staff.

Responding to a question, he said those of the academic staff working in the evening classes, were already being paid additional amount as visiting faculty that was why their allowance was not as much as compared to the administrative staff.

He said the audit teams had already cleared the financial affairs of last five years. In fact, a deputy registrar who had left the university for another job in Sialkot women university three years ago, had rejoined the UoG this year and the said official had previously remained the beneficiary of evening allowance and wanted to regain allowance immediately through ‘such tactics.’

The VC said the varsity might constitute a special committee in a few days to review the affairs of evening allowance to address any remaining issues in this regard.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024