New Sindh universities law reduces chancellor to just a ceremonial office

With the passing of the Sindh Universities and Institutes Laws (Amendment) Bill-2018, the Sindh governor being chancellor of public universities would have no practical role or power in varsities except presiding over their annual convocations.

A detailed study of the draft bill, which was passed into law on Friday by the Sindh Assembly amid a staunch protest by the opposition, reveals that the chancellor has also been deprived of the authority to preside over the meetings of the senate of public universities – the highest statutory forums which approve statutes and annual budgets of varsities.

Along with the annual convocation, universities’ senate meetings were the second important occasions when the chancellor would come to campus to preside over them. It is clear that under the new law, all other administrative authorities that belonged to the chancellor, including ordering inquiries, approvals, inspections, appointments, dismissals, nominations and granting leaves will now be withdrawn from the chancellor and rest with the province’s chief minister.

Ceremonial chancellor office

According to Minister for Law Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, this move is in accordance with the 18th Amendment as the Sindh government has established its own provincial higher educational commission and created the post of provincial secretary of boards and universities.

“In such a situation, instead of the chancellor, the CM should be fully empowered to look after the universities,” Lanjar said, while speaking to The News on Saturday.

He said that before the passage of the new amendment law, key issues of some of the universities were being run by the chancellor’s secretariat, while the rest of the universities, especially the newer ones, had been seeking guidance and approvals from the CM’s secretariat to run their affairs.

“Now, all the public sector universities would be dealt with on a uniform and equal basis by the CM’s secretariat,” he said. Lanjar said that there was no harm if the office of the chancellor has been rendered fully ceremonial after the law because this was in accordance with the spirit of the constitution, law and democracy.

“The coveted elected leadership of the province should be fully empowered to look after the affairs of universities just like the rest of the education sector,” he said.

‘Mala fide intentions’

However, Professor Dr Shakeelur Rehman Farooqui, who is the secretary general of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities’ Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA), disagreed with the law minister’s view.

“It is utter nonsense,” declared Farooqui. “It seems that this government doesn’t even know the meaning of the word chancellor. If the chancellor of our universities is not good for anything except presiding over convocations, then he is not at all the chancellor by any means.”

He said that FAPUASA firmly believed that the Sindh government had taken away all powers of the chancellor out of mala fide intentions. “This is not at all acceptable to us and we will resist this move,” he said.

According to Farooqui, the office of the chancellor is supposed to be apolitical and therefore he is the best person to look after and supervise the affairs of public universities. Elected political leadership should not be empowered to control universities in place of the chancellor, he said. “This is not a wise move for the cause of higher education in the province and would create serious repercussions for the affairs of universities,” the FAPUASA secretary general said.