Agriculture University teachers demand acting VC’s removal

PESHAWAR: Seeking immediate removal of the acting vice-chancellor and giving the charge to the senior-most professor and expediting the process for appointment of permanent vice-chancellor, the teaching staff of the Agriculture University Peshawar Friday announced complete strike and class boycott.

“We would not hold the examinations starting from June 25 if the government failed to accept our demand,” said Prof Dr Iqbal Munir, President Agriculture University Teachers Association (AUTA), while talking to The News.

The executive council of AUTA at its emergency meeting on Friday expressed concern over the indifferent attitude of acting Vice-Chancellor Dr Noor Paio Khan towards the faculty issues. The participants of the meeting observed that the non-profession and rude attitude of the acting vice-chancellor had brought academic, development and administrative system of the university to a standstill.

Dr Iqbal Munir said that the attitude of the vice-chancellor was very strange as he didn’t know how to run the institution. The AUTA president said all the projects had been stopped and new projects couldn’t be initiated in the university due to his ‘strange’ attitude. He said the genuine demands of the faculty were not being accepted.

Dr Iqbal Munir said the decisions of the university syndicate held in November 2017 were not being implemented despite the passage of seven long months. He said that a sense of disappointment had increased among the faculty members owing to the non-serious response of the acting vice-chancellor towards the issues.

Dr Iqbal Munir said the university syndicate had approved regularisation of 28 teachers of the Institute of Business and Management Studies (IBMS), which couldn’t be notified. He added the promotion process of the university teachers had been stopped. He said that due to the indifferent attitude of the acting vice-chancellor some senior faculty members serving on Tenure Track System (TTS) could not be given their salaries since February. The decision about switch over of some teachers of Basic Pay Scale (BPS) to TTS was also not being implemented, he informed.

The AUTA president opined that several projects of the university had been stopped due to the non-professional attitude of the acting vice-chancellor.

He said the wheat crop in the university farm, which is grown for seed production, has been spoiled as labour couldn’t be hired timely for its harvesting and processing. Dr Iqbal Munir said the acting vice-chancellor didn’t follow the rules of the university or the Higher Education Commission.

The university has been functioning under an acting vice-chancellor for five months. The provincial government has been unable to appoint a regular vice-chancellor for the university. The position of the vice-chancellor that fell vacant after the retirement of Dr Zahoor Ahmad Swati was advertised along with the University of Haripur on May 2, 2017 with May 25 as last date for submission of applications. More than a 100 candidates have applied for the two positions.

The scrutiny committee of the Higher Education Department after completion of the initial scrutiny has submitted a list of eligible candidates with the academic and search committee for the appointment of public sector universities.