Daily Times

LAHORE – Punjab University (PU) teachers on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest on The Mall near the Punjab Assembly against the ‘acting VC’ – over assigning of ‘look after’ charge of Vice-Chancellor to Dr Mujahid Kamran.

The protesting teachers on The Mall announced launching “PU Save Movement” and observed that they would continue protests until the rules were followed and the most senior professor was appointed as the acting VC.

They said that that the Higher Education Department (HED) had forwarded the summary of senior most professor – Dr Taqi Zahid Butt – to be appointed as acting VC; however, the Chief Minister’s Office allegedly unlawfully forwarded the name of Dr Mujahid Kamran to Governor/Chancellor to be appointed as the acting vice chancellor.

The teachers also shared the copies of the summary forwarded by the HED to the chief minister. “It is the policy of the chief minister to take decisions on merit. Punjab University is the largest university in the province. It should have a VC on merit and not the one who is allegedly facing inquiries in National Accountability Bureau (NAB),” they added.

“We have come out on roads to protect this prestigious institute for our coming generations and we hope that the chief minister will remove Mujahid Kamran as the acting VC,” they said. They also alleged that Dr Mujahid Kamran was allegedly using Academic Staff Association (ASA) for his personal gains saying the tenure of ASA expired in December and this illegal body was now supporting illegally appointed VC.

However, the “look-after charge” given to Dr Mujahid Kamran by the Higher Education Department (HED) to hold the office of vice-chancellor of the University of the Punjab has been challenged in the Lahore High Court.

The recent appointment of Dr Kamran as the acting vice-chancellor has been challenged by Prof Dr Asmatullah – one of the aspirants for the post of VC. It may be mentioned that Dr Kamran, who has enjoyed two tenures of four years each, is eyeing for a third consecutive term. His second term ended on January 22, but he was assigned the look-after charge a day ahead of his retirement.

In his petition filed with the high court on Saturday, Dr Asmatullah submitted that Dr Kamran could not hold the office of VC after his retirement and that the top slot of the university must be given to the senior-most professor.