Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The International Islamic University (IIU) Islamabad has appointed more faculty members in violation of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) rules.

According to the documents available with Daily Times, the IIU administration has appointed Dr Saeed Badshah for the post of Associate Professor and granted him 12 annual increments in violation of the set rules.

As per HEC rules, for the appointment of associate professor, the candidate should have 10 years of teaching and research experience and 10 publications in HEC recognised journals along with a PhD degree in a relevant field.

“Dr Badshah was lacking the minimum requirements,” said a well-informed official, wishing not to be named.

The documents stated that initially Dr Saeed Badshah was hired as assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering as a contractual employee in 2012, but later he switched to the Tenure Track System. The sources said that he withdrew a number of annul increments unlawfully. The university’s spokesperson Syed Hassan Aftab said the increments were given as pay protection. He claimed that as per rules, when any official would switch from contractual to a permanent job, then the institution is bound to award him/her the increments.

Dr Badshah in 2015, as per sources, switched to being associate professor while protecting all perks and privileges. Moreover, as per rules, the IIU selection board can only grant a maximum of six increments to any official. “Giving all such perks to a person who is not eligible for the post of associate professor, is very regretful,” said an official wishing anonymity. “Although, he submitted a long list of publication but only two of his papers were published in HEC recognised journals. The relevant teaching and research experience claimed was accomplished using a piece of paper provided by Dr Badshah,” confirmed an official in the HEC.

According to the documents, another faculty member Dr Muhammad Mushtaq who is an associate professor in the Law department of the university has a shortage of published research papers in HEC recognised journals.

As per HEC rules, for the associate professor in law, it was mandatory that he/she should have 10 recognised research papers in at least the category of Y. However, the documents stated that Dr Muhammad Mushtaq had only two research papers published in this category.

Similarly, Dr Naseem Razi had a shortage of six papers as she managed to publish only four in category Y.

Dr Muhammad Munir, a professor in the Law department, who is also vice president of the university, also lacks published papers.

The HEC rules stated that for the post of the professor in law, the candidate should have 15 research papers in at least the category of Y. However, the documents revealed that Dr Muhammad Munir held only six papers, falling short of nine papers. Moreover, the sources said that there were around 44 officials in the university withdrawing double house rent allowance.

The university had also appointed a large number of faculty members for administrative slots which contradicted the law. In a meeting held in January, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Education & Professional Training also gave its recommendations for the removal of faculty members working against administrative slots in the university.

But practical work in this regard is yet to be carried out by IIU administration, said an official privy to matter.

Spokesperson Syed Hassan Aftab claimed that all appointments were made in absolute compliance with the prescribed legal frame work.

Published in Daily Times, February 16^th 2018.