Daily Times

ISALAMABAD: A three-member probe committee has been constituted by the Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) to determine the responsibility of the officials who were involved in the abolishment of the Mari Chair, Daily Times has learnt reliably.

Mari Gas Company Limited (MGCL) (now Mari Petroleum Company Limited), awarded the Mari Chair to the university for the university’s Department of Earth Science (DES) on May 28, 2012. An efficient researcher Dr. Zulifqar Ahmed was selected for the chair through an open selection procedure.

Later, the university management decided to abolish the Mari Chair and according to the Vice Chancellor Javed Ashraf, the decision was made on a need basis as tantamount funding to the Chair would be acquired in cash and that would be spent as per needs at the DES.

In recent days, the university’s apex body, the Syndicate, constituted a three-member committee comprising Mukhtar Ahmed as chairman while a couple of Syndicate members Ammar Raza and Sameena Qadir were chosen as members of the probe committee.

The sources in the varsity disclosed that the committee had been formulated on the mutual consensus of all members and the Chair of the Syndicate. It will conclude the findings within a month.

The sources said that the committee was assigned to impartially probe into all aspects of the matter and determine the responsibility on the actual culprit who made such a repugnant decision.

A well informed official said when the issue was taken up during the meeting, a majority of the Syndicate members were surprised to know about the abolishment of the Mari Chair.

The official quoted members as saying that the decision was very pathetic. They said the university instead of struggling for the new Chair, very shockingly abolished the existing Chair.

The official also quoted some members saying that to acquire a Chair from any company, organisation or firm was very difficult measure and the QAU’s decision was beyond understanding.

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier the Mari Chair abolishment decision was published in Daily Times. As per sources, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) management got annoyed over the university’s decision after knowing this through the published news story.

The available documents reveal that the elimination decision was made on the recommendations of Chairperson DES, Dr.Mona Lisa. The university’s faculty in a written request to the VC also expressed concerns over the decision made just on the solo recommendations of the chairperson.

According the 10-page Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), inked between the university and MGCL, the objectives of the establishment of the Mari Chair in the QAU’s DES were to maintain undergraduate, post graduate and PhD programmes in line with those of leading international universities and to update the programmes according to the requirements of the petroleum industry in consultation with the MGCL.

For this purpose, the MGCL would provide an annual grant of Rs 3.94 million with the consideration of annual inflation of 15 per cent, subject to the continuity of the MOA. The declared amount includes the salaries of the Chair and the Office Assistant, their monthly allowances and other expenditure. After signing the agreement, the university had advertised the Mari Chair in the national press offering desiring candidates to apply through an open merit procedure.

In the advertisement, the desiring candidate for the Mari Chair was required to have qualifications and criteria tantamount to a professor.