Kinnaird College's controversial registrar quits

KC registrar quits amid controversies
Lahore, March 20: Kinnaird College's 'controversial' registrar Dr Naima Khursheed on Friday tendered her resignation from the post reportedly on the advice of college's Board of Governors chairman Bishop Alexander John Malik.

Dr Khursheed, said she had quit as registrar "in the best interest of the college". Dr Khursheed's appointment ratified by the BoG at its meeting on Dec 5 last year had triggered a series of protests by the college faculty members and students. The faculty alleged that college principal Dr Bernadette L. Dean was "running college like her fiefdom" and that she had appointed faculty member Dr Khursheed as registrar in violation of the eligibility criteria advertised in newspapers.

A five-member inquiry tribunal, led by A.Z.K. Sherdil, had observed in its report that the post advertised in newspapers required four-year experience as a registrar in a university and a PhD degree but Dr Khursheed did not possess the required administrative experience.

The report said: "A registrar's position is of considerable importance in an educational institution and gross indiscretion has been shown in this appointment".

The tribunal recommended that the BoG should re-advertise the registrar's post and select a suitable person with requisite qualification and experience.

The Punjab Higher Education Department also had asked the Kinnaird College's BoG to take action against the principal for maladministration in admissions on a self-finance basis. It had also asked the board to inform the department about its action taken against the principal and the registrar.

The confrontation between the college administration and faculty members stole the limelight in late December last year when Dr Bernadette (the KC principal) had removed three contract teachers and repatriated the services of four senior regular teachers to the Higher Education Department for their reservations about the appointment of Dr Khursheed. It resulted in a series of protests on the campus and outside it.

The KC faculty members had also written an application to BoG chairman Dr Alexander, explaining their reservations and demanding review of the registrar's appointment and administrative actions of the principal. The application was signed by a good number (96) of the faculty members.

The faculty members had explained to the BoG 22 points like "running college like her fiefdom, dismantling established departments, using rude and high-pitched tone to humiliate faculty members in the presence of students and support staff."

In their second complaint, the faculty members had explained 11 points to substantiate their argument that Dr Khursheed's appointment was unjustified.

Besides registrar's appointment, the CM's inquiry tribunal also investigated the admissions on a self-finance basis and recommended that the admissions over and above the sanctioned strength should be placed before the BoG for approval because any other intervention at this stage would be counterproductive. Dawn

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UHS MBBS exams schedule
Lahore: The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has announced the schedule of all annual examinations of MBBS to be held this year. According to a notification, first professional MBBS (Part-I) annual examination of students of 23 affiliated medical colleges will commence on October 08 whereas that of Part-II on November 05. Second professional MBBS exam will start from November 26, third professional MBBS exam from December 20 and final professional MBBS annual examination will start from January 07, 2011. Detailed schedule can be seen on the university website www.uhs.edu.pk.

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LHC stays re-employment of two officials in FBISE
Rawalpindi

Justice Asad Munir of the Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi Bench, here on Friday stayed the contractual re-employment of two BPS-19 officials of the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) after they were retired completing their terms.

Chaudhry Afrasiab Khan legal counsel to the petitioner, a deputy controller FBISE said that the FBISE board of governors decided to re-employ these two FBISE controllers after one of these retired a day before yesterday and the other one is going to retire today.

The FBISE board of governors decided to keep these two officials working at their respective posts on contractual basis.

The petitioner Tariq Mehmood Chaudhry a deputy controller of BPS-18 while nominating the Secretary Ministry of Education and FBISE as respondents adopted before the court that the two officials had completed their terms of the service and now the posts were lying vacant. These posts could only be filled with promoting the officials in junior scales according to the law. So the contractual re-employment was in violation to the rules and procedures.

The court while staying decision of the FBISE board of governors directed the respondents to submit their reply till March 30.

In one another case Justice Hassan Raza Pasha of the LHC suspended the operation in an FIR registered against Sultan Ahmad for keeping Areeb alias Nasreen in his illegal custody.

The petitioner through his legal counsel told the court that he and Areeb got married with wilful consent of each other and there is Areeb's on-record statement before a magistrate under section 164 where she has testified that she is getting married with her own free will.

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Quarters bulldozed to 'upgrade' school
LAHORE

On the request of the Education department, the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) bulldozed several quarters in the premises of Lady McLegan School, Old Anarkali, here on Friday.

The operation was started at about 10.30am in the morning and the CDGL staff, escorted by heavy contingents of police, entered the vicinity. Different families had been residing in the quarters, about 25 in number, since the inception of Pakistan.

The residents said they knew the land belonged to Punjab government but no government had ever asked them to vacate the quarters in the past.

A resident, Saleem, said the noise of the CDGL bulldozers had woken him up. He saw big iron machines razing the quarters to ground after he came out of his house, he said, adding the inhabitants had appealed to the officials not to demolish their homes as they did not have alternate places to live.

"None of the officials heard our pleas. They ordered us to vacate our homes immediately," said Naseem Bibi. After demolishing five quarters, the officials told them that they would come back on Monday to raze the remaining quarters, warning the residents of strict action in case they failed to vacate the quarters by Monday, she added.

When contacted, EDO (Education) Dr Muhammad Arshad said the quarters were situated inside the school's premises and the government had already won a legal case regarding the possession of these quarters in 2008.

He said the department would upgrade the school after demolishing the quarters. He said written and verbal warnings and notices were given to the residents repeatedly but to no avail.

The residents said they had not been served any notice. In the past, they said, a resident of the quarter had filed a case in the court regarding ownership of the land but the person died and the case was hushed up.

They appealed to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other authorities concerned to save them from the aggression of the Education department. The news

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