Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The senior management of the Hazara University (HU) including Vice Chancellor Dr Ehsan Ali held accountable for irregularities during the meeting of Senate’s Standing Committee on Education and Professional Training.

The vice chancellor also debarred from holding any public office in the future. On Tuesday, Senate’s sub-committee submitted its report on mismanagement and governance issues of the Mansehra-based university to the standing committee. It was directed in the report that Shah-i-Room, appointed as the assistant registrar of the Hazara University in October 2006, has been demoted from the position as he did not fulfill the criteria for the post.

Later on, Shah-e-Room was also selected as the deputy registrar in April 2007. Within seven months of his first appointment, he was placed in the Establishment Wing of the university. The slot was advertised nationally and Shah-i-Room was not illegible for the position, according to the submitted report. Dr Ali being the vice chancellor held responsible for this illegal practice.

Earlier, in a meeting of the sub-committee in July, the participants including rectors of the International Islamic University and COMSATS University and the vice chancellor of the Peshawar University stated that the vice chancellor was not authorized to doing such exercises as per the law. The university management selected Shah-i-Room for PhD studies abroad and also awarded scholarship from the university resources without any procedure.

The report stated that the purpose of the scholarship was faculty development, whereas he (Shah-i-Room) was not even in the teaching faculty, rather he was serving as the deputy registrar. For the purpose (of scholarship), the varsity paid him 10,525 pound sterling as tuition fee, 4500 pound sterling as living allowance, 500 pound sterling registration fee and one year stipend amounting 9,000 pound sterling.

In the report, it was asked that the competent authority (of the university) to take action against Shah-i-Room. In another violation, Farah Deeba who was awarded PhD scholarship from the university resources also declared illegal beneficiary and asked that “full amount spent on her PhD may be recovered” because as per rule, she should serve for her parent institution for specific period after getting PhD from abroad but she is continuously staying in UK.

Another important decision was made in the report in regard of Zahid Mehmood who got contract of the canteen in the varsity in 2010. The contractor executed the repair and refurbishing of the canteen without the approval of the university authorities. Reportedly, he (contractor) blackmailed the university management over his claim of Rs 2.92 million to continue his contract and had been filing cases in the court of law from May 2011 till December 2013.

Despite these violations by the contractor, then vice chancellor Dr Sakhawat Shahzad awarded the contract for another five years in April 2014 without protecting the university’s interests. The committee recommended that strict action should be taken against Dr Shahzad and other officials (of the university) who had been not vigilant in doing their jobs in this regard.

Some key appointments and the promotions made during the tenure of Dr Shahzad were also declared illegal and the responsible officials directed for punishment in accordance with the recruitment rules. The report revealed that Dr Shahzad made 76 appointments in various categories without demand, need assessment, competitive process and availability of the budgeted posts.

Currently, 28 of these employees are serving at the university and 21 are serving at the Abbottabad University of Science & Technology. The appointments were made without observing the required eligibility criteria and experience. The administrative staff was adjusted against academic posts and non-technical posts were adjusted against technical posts etc.

Apparently, there was some evidence of possible tampering in the record for hiring, as the people who were hired as per the appointment letters were not in payroll for the following three to four months. These hiring were done in back dates. The committee observed that the recruitments were made without considering the availability of the sanctioned posts and without considering the eligibility criteria.

The awarded contract for the construction of the park amounting Rs 3.490 million was also said violation of the PPRA Rules-12(2). “Action should be taken against the persons/authorities responsible for the volition (of PPRA rules) in award of the contract of Rs 3.490 million for the park, according to the report.

In February 2014, the Dean’s Committee recommended, immediately after taking charge of Dr Shehzad as the acting vice chancellor, for the grant of advances of Rs 400,000/- to each dean and Rs 200,000/- to each head of department for refurbishing of their offices. “The advances have not been adjusted even after the lapse of two years which was supposed to be done within one week. The university instead of furnishing offices of the deans and chairpersons through central procurement office issued the advances to persons against the prevailing practices,” the report pointed out.

It added that the advances granted to the deans and the department heads must be adjusted within a month time or otherwise amount be recouped into the university account.