Daily Times

The general body meeting of Shah Abdul Latif University Teachers Association (SALUTA) was held on Monday.

The meeting, which was chaired by the SALUTA President Professor Dr Amir Ali Chandio, unanimously passed a resolution in which the general body congratulated the newly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan and Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah and requested them for taking effective measures to improve the standard of higher education in Sindh.

The participants showed deep concern over the financial crisis of the University and urged both the federal and provincial governments to enhance the grant of Shah Abdul Latif University (SALU). The body also demanded from the relevant authorities to devise strict audit system for all the universities of Sindh.

The general body unanimously agreed that the university was having a financial crisis due to the ill-management and corruption of various offices. The SALUTA demanded from the authorities for a special audit of the Examination branch where the number of candidates appeared in examination did not match with the fees deposited in the university account.

During the meeting, the university management was appreciated for designing the Online Payment System to control or minimize the financial corruption and advertising the post to appoint a full-time registrar of the university.

The general body criticized the university administration for issuing notices to various faculty members especially Mr Ishrat Ali Mirani and Profrssor Dr Ghulam Qadir Shar and demanded the administration to immediately stop the discriminative attitude and victimization of the faculty members. The general body also demanded justice for Professaor Shar in his appointment as a Meritorious Professor (BPS-22).

The meeting also took serious notice of the delay in payments of leave encashment to the employees of the university including teachers, officers and administrative staff. The general body announced to launch a protest rally from the department of Political Science to the Administration block on Wednesday, September 12 at 10.30am.

During the meeting, the violation of merit (seniority-cum-distance) in the allotment of residential bungalows was strongly condemned and the entire process of allotment was declared as faulty where the senior professors, including Dr Amir Ali Chandio and Dr Rahim Bux Soomro, were ignored during the allotment of the bungalows. It was demanded that the allotment committee should be reconstituted to make the allotments on the seniority-cum-distance basis.

The general body showed deep concern for not releasing the MPhil and PhD maintenance allowance to the faculty members pursuing their higher studies. The members demanded to release the allowance on immediate basis. The meeting also condemned the attitude of administration for not granting the study leave to Mrs Shahida Chandio and termed it victimization as she raised voice against the wrongdoings of the administration in the past.

The SALUTA took serious notice of the pending medical and other bills of all faculty members and demanded issuance of cheques without discrimination. It also demanded from the university administration to provide basic facilities like water, electricity and furniture at the Shikarpur, Shahdadkot and Ghotki campuses.

The general body urged the administration to realize the importance of accreditation of various academic programs and said that serious efforts should be taken for the accreditation of various academic programs for their national and international recognition.

To minimise financial irregularities and corruption in various departments, SALUTA demanded the automation of all manual systems of different wings of the university especially finance, examination and admission wings.

The general body also demanded to enhance the honorarium of Teaching Assistants (TAs) up to Rs 25,000 per month as more than 140 TAs were working in the university at Rs 12,000 per month which was less than the minimum wage for unskilled workers, as announced by the government.

To conclude the meeting, it was unanimously resolved that after 10th of Muharram, the ‘Charter of Demand’ would be presented to the University management and further strategy for the good governance would be announced accordingly.

Two M.Phil Seminars held at SALU

Two research scholars from the Institute of Chemistry at the Shah Abdul Latif University (SALU) presented their doctoral thesis at the Kazi Hall on Monday.

The topic of Asadullah Pahore’s M.Phil research thesis was, “Estimation of Essential and Toxic Trace Metals in different Tea Brands and Infusions Consumed in Larkana Division” while Nazia Rind Balouch delivered her seminar on the topic, “Quantification of Essential And Heavy Metals in Green Tea Leaves and Tea Infusion Consumed In Sukkur Division.”

Both the scholars carried out their research under the supervision of Professor Dr Vinod Kumar Dewani. The Dean Faculty of Natural Sciences Professor Dr Mir Munsif Ali Talpur presided over the seminars and declared them successful.

Published in Daily Times, September 11^th 2018.