Punjab Study

Lahore:January 24:THE recent selection of three lecturers at Punjab University’s Institute of Communication Studies (ICS) has some procedural loopholes, although the varsity administration claims to have done the job on merit.

A close monitoring of the whole selection process raises doubts over intensions of the varsity administration, as mystery shrouds the whole episode right from the advertisement of posts till the final selection of candidates.

It has been revealed that candidates who were short-listed to appear before the Selection Committee had received interview call letters just a day before the interview. The interview was scheduled on December 28, 2011 while most of candidates received interview letters on December 27.

Another important point to be mentioned here is related to the meeting agenda where only one post was mentioned while a total of three lecturers were selected in the meeting. Similarly, the advertisement which appeared on November 3, 2011 did not mention total number of posts to be filled at PUICS.

A candidate, Khalid Rashid, also said that his CV submitted for interview did not contain all pages, alleging some of these pages were allegedly removed.

It is pertinent to mention here that Khalid Rashid who is contract lecturer at PUICS has already submitted a complaint at Chief Minister Secretariat, alleging violation of merit in the Selection Board. However, his allegations have already been refuted by PU administration in reply to the CM Secretariat.

Another important point to be mentioned here is early summoning of the Selection Board’s meeting. According to rules of procedure for meetings of the Selection Board as mentioned in the PU Calendar “Ordinarily a week’s notice shall be given for a meeting which shall be circulated among members either through special messenger or by post under a certificate of posting.” However in the instant case, notice for the meeting was issued on December 27, just a day before the meeting.

One of the aggrieved candidates talking to The News said “We were not expecting that university like PU would call them on emergency basis for interview just hours before the interview”, adding due to lack of time they could not prepare themselves well for the interview. About the CV of Khalid Rashid, a PU official claimed that he (Khalid Rashid) had submitted only a three-page document in response to the advertisement. However, when contacted, Khalid Rashid claimed that he had submitted a file comprising twenty-eight pages. When asked why the number of seats in the advertisement was not mentioned dated November 3, 2011, PU Additional Registrar-I Dr Aurangzeb Alamgir claimed that nothing was done against rules, adding it was not compulsory or binding to advertise the number of seats.

To a question that as there was one seat mentioned in the agenda of the selection board’s meeting then as to why three candidates were selected, Dr Aurangzeb said if the Selection Board found more suitable candidates then it could select more. “We cannot miss suitable candidates because such candidates improve the ranking of the varsity”, he added.

When asked as to posts of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor which had been lying vacant for years had not been filled and instead lecturers had been recruited by the Additional Registrar-I, claimed the selection of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor took more time. When asked about late delivery of interview letters, Dr Aurangzeb claimed that the administration had informed the candidates telephonically two days before the interview. “If I have command over a subject then I can perform well in the interview even if I was informed late”, he argued.—Shahid Aslam is an intern with. The News.