PU Syndicate meeting spoiled in scuffle
LAHORE:25 June: Punjab University (PU) Syndicate meeting, scheduled by ‘look after’ Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran, on Saturday was spoiled by scuffle between two groups of the teachers in the Syndicate room.
According to the details, PU Law College Assistant Professor Naeem Ullah physically assaulted his colleague Dr Naveed Ahmad, adding that Institute of Quality and Technology Management Assistant Professor (IQTM) Dr Muhammad Shafiq manhandled Syndicate member Shamaila Gull and threatened her of consequences.
The sources said that Dr Naveed Ahmad has filed an application with Muslim Town Police for registering a first information report (FIR) against Naeem Ullah who, he said, acted at the behest of Dr Mujahid Kamran after he had called members of the Academic Staff Association (ASA) and recently elected members of the Senate to the meeting room.
The application further said that the main issue was an SMS sent by Additional Registrar Dr Kamran Abid to “friends in need are friends indeed” of the administration. The sources also informed that the VC’s group has also filed a similar application.
Scuffle was observed among the teachers when a group of the teachers led by Syndicate members Javed Sami and Shamaila Gull along with a number of the former Senate members and Syndicate went to meet with members of the Syndicate to express their serious concern over the holding of the meeting.
They told the members that the meeting would be against the Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court (LHC) decisions on the look-after charge. They apprised that holding such meeting was not in the jurisdiction of the vice chancellor.
They further said that the statutory authorities including Syndicate, the Academic Council, the Finance and Planning Committee (FPC) and their sub committees chaired by the vice chancellor were not lawfully in existence in the absence of a regularly appointed vice chancellor.
They also informed the Syndicate members that the emergency orders issued by the look-after VC under section 15(3) of the University of the Punjab Act were also illegal. The teachers further told the Syndicate members that PU look-after VC’s actions of holding meetings of the statutory bodies and its sub-committees, and issuing orders under 15(3) have been challenged in the LHC.
They requested the members to not hold any meeting of the Syndicate until the honorable court gives a decision on this writ petition. The Syndicate members appreciated the concerns of these teachers and took decisions on only two day-to-day items of the 27-item main agenda and several items coming under current work.
They were approval of proceedings of an FPC meeting and approval of the results of Senate elections for Registered Graduates. The Syndicate also decided to not entertain anything in its future meetings other than day-to-day affairs until the judgment on the LHC case. The hearing on the case is scheduled for June 29. Javed Sami and Shamaila Gull boycotted the meeting, terming it unlawful.Daily Times.
