Punjab Study

LAHORE:10 January: The teaching staff at Punjab University (PU) urged Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif to carry out the appointment procedure for the PU vice chancellor (VC) post as per the set rules and recommendations of the Search Committee, and to ignore any pressurising tactics of the Jamiat-backed teachers and the students of Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) in this connection.
They said that the CM should instead keep in mind the greater interest of over 30,000 on-campus and 0.4 million off-campus students.
The teachers expressed these views during the General Body meeting of the PU Teachers Front held in the Senate Hall, Old Campus, on Monday.
Prof Dr Shaukat Ali presided over the meeting which was attended by 300 teachers, including members of the syndicate, deans, heads of teaching departments, faculty members and researchers.
The meeting condemned the Academic Staff Association (ASA) for using the association’s forum for political purposes. The teachers passed a unanimous resolution condemning the ASA for using its forum to pressurise the government into appointing a VC of their choice. The resolution also stated that the former ASA representatives, even after completion of their turn, did not announce the election schedule because of their “hidden political and negative aims”.
It was stated in the resolution that if ASA was unable to issue the election schedule within a week’s time, a general body meeting of the teachers would be called and the memberships of the ASA associates would be cancelled. The meeting further demanded that the Search Committee appoint a VC in compliance with the committee’s set rules and regulations.
The meeting also made it clear that the appointment of a VC through recommendations of the Search Committee would help the university come out of the hold of one political group and revive its national and historical importance.Daily Times.