Daily Times

In a major development, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday formed a Cabinet Committee for disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) which proposed a Presidential ordinance to remove Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) top brass including its chairman Dr Tariq Banuri.

The CCLC meeting was chaired by Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem, which was also attended by other members included Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari, Minister for Narcotics Control Muhammad Azam Swati, Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Minister for education Shafqat Mahmood, PM’s Advisor on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Zaheer ud Din Babar Awan, PM’s Advisor on Accountability and Interior Mirza Shahzad Akbar, Attorney General for Pakistan, Secretary Law and Justice Division and a nominee from Prime Minister office.

According to the sources, except Chaudhry Fawad Hussain all other members unanimously agreed on introducing the Ordinance. Hussain, however, in his dissenting note pointed out some legal hitches that may become a barrier in approval procedure of the Ordinance.

As per CCLC decision, the Education Minister Mahmood would brief Prime Minister Imran Khan over the proposed legislation. Afterward the PM may approve the matter, following which it would be put on the agenda of the Cabinet meeting that probably scheduled on March 30 (Tuesday).

Dr Banuri was appointed in 2018 during the tenure of PML-N when Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was the Prime Minister. The premier, as per rules is the controlling authority of the HEC. Abbasi picked Dr Banuri out of the four names forwarded to him by a six-member search committee for final selection. The committee consisted of Dr Sania Nishtar, former lawmaker Shahnaz Wazir Ali, educationists Faisal Bari, Mirza Qamar Baig and Syed Babar Ali and the than federal secretary education.

His appointment process raised many questions, as according to the record available with the Daily Times Dr Baunri is around 72 years old, as he was born on August 20, 1949. Serving against such a key position of 72-year is very surprising.

Dr Banuri is also a dual nationality holder as he holds UK nationality, in violation of a Supreme Court of Pakistan judgment a few years back, which prohibited dual nationals from holding any public office of the country.

Since his appointment Dr Banuri’s performance has been dismal. His failures, according to HEC sources, caused the move to remove him with a better replacement, as the post was deemed integral. The Commission is a monitoring authority of over 300 universities across the county. Dr Banuri’s unsatisfactory performance has also been highlighted in some parliamentary standing committees. The sources disclosed that the Education Minister Mahmood was unhappy with Dr Banuri over his poor management. Since his appointment, Dr Banuri was repeatedly called by the Parliamentary Committees seeking briefing on issues, but he hardly bothered to attend any meeting. Except for the two or three meetings of these forums which he attended himself, he never even sent any HEC official in order to avoid possible criticism by the parliamentarians over his failures at HEC. Instead of making some solid arrangements to convince authorities for restoration of gross deduction in the HEC budget since the last couple of fiscal years, Dr Banuri reportedly never complained over the matter. The shortage of budget left the public sector universities with no alternate choice but to increase the fees, resultantly passing on a financial burden on poor students.

Since he resumed charge, many pivotal projects in the Commission winded up due to his administrative failure. Again making some meager effort in this regard, Dr Banuri has been merely focusing on appointing Consultants in the commission. He preferred to appoint Consultants than permanent designated posts. He throughout abolished some senior slots and replaced them with Consultancies. The Member Planning and Operation was one of such eliminated posts.

According to the available information, Dr Banuri appointed around dozens Consultants in different sections of the Commission on hefty packages. Such irregularities also perturbed the anti-corruption watchdog National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Few days back, NAB began an action against Dr Tariq Banuri over accusations of misuse of power and corruption.

The anti-corruption watchdog had accused him of misusing power during the appointments. It had said that the appointment was allegedly illegal and is a big corruption scam. Dr Banuri has been asked by NAB to provide details of expenditures of the university at the PM House, as well as particulars of the National Academy of Higher Education.

The NAB had also sought Dr Banuri’s reply regarding the illegal appointments of consultations on the basis of favoritism. Moreover, the bureau also sought a response from the HEC chairman regarding the appointments of Legal Officer Advocate Tariq Mansoor, Nadia Tahir, Azhar Lateef and Noor Amna Malik.

Dr Banuri, however, has paid no heed to NAB queries, which has raised the concerns and established the doubts of alleged corruption and illegalities, the sources claim. Besides this, a feel of discontent was also found within HEC employees.The information suggests that all aforementioned factors generated the move for removal of HEC top office bearers.

Despite text messages and repeated calls, Dr Banuri didn’t respond to give his version over the latest development.