Interviews for Malakand, Swat varsities’ VCs being held today
PESHAWAR:26 July: The long wait for the appointment of regular vice-chancellors for the University of Malakand and University of Swat is about to end as the interviews for the two offices are being held today.
Some of the candidates, it was learnt, have expedited efforts to use political links to get the prized positions.
Some 30 candidates have been called for interview for the two positions.
The search committee for appointment of vice-chancellor of the universities in Malakand division, which are run under the presidential regulations, would conduct the interviews.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Abid Saeed is heading the search committee.
Both the universities have been working under acting administration for nearly two years. The positions were formally advertised in December last year and April this year for the University of Malakand and University of Swat, respectively. Some 90 to 100 candidates applied for the two jobs.
The post of vice-chancellor of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Sheringal has also been advertised and initial scrutiny of the candidates has been made. However, the interview for the office got delayed.
There have been reservations against the advertisement and eligibility criteria for the University of Malakand.
The administrative officers in different universities have already moved the court against the advertisement as the criteria given in it was in line with the Universities’ Act for the universities in the province and in violation of the presidential regulations applied in the universities in the Malakand division, which is part of the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA).
The advertisement for the University of Swat was later reviewed, but the shortlisting was made in accordance with the act as none of the administrative officers having long experience has been called for the interview, sources said.
Meanwhile, some of the candidates have expedited their efforts through political leadership and provincial ministers to get these positions.
For University of Malakand, some senior academicians are trying their luck.
A former vice-chancellor of the university who later served as vice-chancellor of the University of Peshawar is also among the favourite candidates.
However, reliable sources told The News that he may not appear in the interview as another candidate having the support of a coalition party in the provincial government has been making every effort to get the position.
This candidate – now retired - has served as dean in the University of Peshawar. He faced the charges of sexual harassment during the last three years of his service. The case is still unresolved as the university has declared him guilty, but the Governor’s Inspection Team exonerated him of the charges.
The standing committee of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly wants the case against him reopened so that he could be punished.
He stands on Number 3 in the list of the short-listed candidates, but his appointment is most likely. The other candidate ahead of him has recently been appointed as vice-chancellor of another university and for this reason could be dropped from the list even though he seems very much interested in this university instead of the one for which he was appointed about two months ago, the sources said.
The sources said that the interviews for the vice-chancellors’ posts would start today at 10 am. First, the interviews would be conducted for the University of Swat and later for the University of Malakand.
The University of Swat has been facing severe administrative crisis. After the completion of the tenure by Prof Dr Jahanzeb Khan as vice-chancellor, some management issues erupted in the institution. However, with the appointment of Dr Jehan Bakht as acting vice-chancellor, the issues were somewhat brought under control. When Dr Jehan Bakht left the university some two months back on his appointment as regular vice-chancellor of the Khushal Khan Khattak University in Karak, the issues resurfaced.
The most serious issue was the race for the office of acting vice-chancellor.
Two faculty members - Mehboobur Rahman and Sher Hassan – who is serving as registrar of the university – got engaged in the tug-of-war for the seat.
Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, who is chancellor of the university, wrote to the Higher Education Department to notify Mehboobur Rahman as acting vice-chancellor, but the department instead asked Sher Hassan to serve as caretaker of the university. It also moved a summary for some other candidates for appointment of acting vice-chancellor.
This summary was, however, returned undecided.
Meanwhile, Mehboobur Rahman got some interim relief from a local court to serve as acting head of the institution.
The University of Swat is also confronted with a host of other issues including lack of building, administrative
and academic problems and the new vice-chancellor would have to face a tough challenge in the job.
