PU VC's wife in hot water: Court removed her

Vice chancellor's wife in hot water: LHC removes PU Law College principal
Lahore, June 02: Justice Hafiz Tariq Nasim of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has removed Punjab University (PU) Law College Principal Shazia Qureshi, who is also the wife of PU Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr Mujahid Kamran, from her post, ruling that her appointment was tainted with nepotism.

The judge held that Qureshi might be foreign qualified, but was an assistant professor in the college. The judge held that according to the university calendar and the University of the Punjab Act, 1973, the principal should only be appointed by the syndicate on the recommendation of the VC from amongst three senior most professors.

"In the light of these unambiguous provisions, I am of the view that VC Dr Mujahid Kamran has exercised his powers arbitrarily to promote nepotism, favouritism and non-transparency," the judge ruled.

The judge observed under the rules, one dean was given additional charge of dean at the Law College, but he was not allowed to look after its affairs. However, Qureshi, who was on a lower pedestal than these two posts (principal and dean), was handed over the prestigious institution only to please her after she married the VC.

The marriage is their personal affair and it is not the duty of the court to comment on it, but the fact remains that such favouritism, nepotism and illegal exercise of powers allows public at large to raise fingers and voice, he said.

The judge also disagreed with Qureshi's counsel that her appointment was a stopgap arrangement due to the non-availability of a professor or an associate professor, ruling that no serious attempt was made to fill the vacant posts. These posts were advertised in December 2008, but no progress had been made in this regard, conveying a message that in the case of appointment of a professor, Qureshi would not be able to retain her position.

The judge held that this novel way was adopted to let Qureshi continue as the principal despite lacking the eligibility criteria. Ten months had lapsed since she was given the charge of the principal, but no progress had been made to fill the posts.

The judge declared the office of the principal as vacant due to illegal and unlawful appointment by the VC. The judge directed that the post should be filled through fresh appointment and a person possessing the requisite eligibility should be given additional charge of the principal for an interim period.

The judge issued the directions while partially accepting the petition of an advocate, Ammara Akbar, seeking her admission in Master in Legislative Law (LLM) and challenged the appointment of the law college principal.

The judge rejected the petitioner's plea for admission in the LLM classes by observing she did not meet the merit and as such she could not claim her admission. Daily Times

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PU approaches HEC for sub-campus at Kasur
Lahore: The Punjab University on Monday submitted a PC-I to the Higher Education Commission regarding establishment of its Bulleh Shah sub-campus at Kasur.

A special committee of the PU worked out requirement of over 800 kanals of land and Rs250 million for setting up the new sub-campus named after Sufi poet Bulleh Shah whose shrine is located Kasur.

The new sub-campus is being set up on special directions of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and it would be funded by the federal government.Sources in the PU administration said following a directive from the PM Secretariat, the matter was presented before deans of various faculties who agreed for establishing of university's sub-campus at Kasur. In 2005, the PU established a sub-campus at Gujranwala. A PU official, seeking anonymity, said the university had demanded a piece of land not less than 862 kanal (preferably 1,000 kanal) free of cost besides Rs250 million.

He said the disciplines of languages (especially Punjabi), commerce, information technology and leather technology institute and other would be started at the proposed campus. A number of senior faculty members said it would have been better if the campus were established at some far-flung area of the province to facilitate the people of those areas. They said hundreds of students belonging to such areas were enrolled at the PU main campus and they were boarding at university hostels.

"If the facilities of higher education are available near their hometowns students would not have to travel to big cities," said one of the teachers.When contacted, PU registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan confirmed that PC-I had been submitted to the HEC for establishing the Bulleh Shah Campus. He said disciplines as per requirement of the area would be offered at new sub-campus.

He said philanthropists and local industrialists should come forward to help the university in setting up the campus so that the PU had to bear the minimum financial burden. To a question, Dr Khan said people from Okara, Kanganpur and many other areas would benefit from the Bulleh Shah Campus.

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PU meeting reviews PhD cases
Lahore: A meeting of the Punjab University (PU) Advance Studies and Research Board was held on Monday.According to a press statement, the meeting, chaired by Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran, solved the cases of PhD scholars sent for review in the board by PU departments, institutes, colleges and schools.

As many as eight PhD synopses, 16 reports on PhD theses and 33 panels of examiners for PhD theses' review were approved. Extension was also given in 30 cases while 13 miscellaneous cases were also discussed.

The meeting was attended by Prof Dr Jamil Anwar, Prof Dr Javaid Ahmed, Prof Dr Muhammad Jamshaid, Prof Dr Muhammad Saleem Mazhar, Prof Dr Liaqat Ali, Prof Shaista Sonnu Sirajuddin, Prof Dr Shahida Hasnain, Prof Dr Mughees Uddin Sheikh, Prof Dr Hafiz Mahmood Akhtar, Prof Dr Nasir Ahmad, Prof Dr Haris Rashid, Prof Dr Niaz Ahmad, Prof Zahid Karim Khan and Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan. The News

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GCU remembers ex-professor
Lahore: Government College University (GCU) Vice Chancellor Dr Khalid Aftab, Political Science Department Chairman Muhammad Azhar Chaudhry and the staff members expressed grief on the sad demise of former Political Science Department chairman Prof Farooq Sultan.

Sultan joined GCU in 1987 and became the department's chairman in 2000. He retired in 2001 and rejoined GCU as a visiting faculty member on contract basis.

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LUMS students get basic life support training
Lahore: The Rescue 1122 on Monday conducted a Basic Life Support Training (BLST) workshop for the students and faculty of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

Twenty-four students and faculty members participated in the workshop. The training included rescue breathing, cardio pulmonary resuscitation, management of airway, and spinal injury patients.

The training workshop was conducted under the supervision of Emergency Officer (community training) Roqiya Javed.

The Rescue 1122 officials started the training programme under the instructions of Rescue 1122 Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer, to equip young students with life-saving skills and enable them to manage emergencies effectively.

According to a statement issued by the Rescue 1122, LUMS students had already been trained as community emergency response teams by the Rescue 1122 and they were serving the LUMS community as Rescue volunteers. A large number of students expressed their wish to join the Rescue 1122 as rescue volunteers to work towards the development of safer communities, it said. Daily Times

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