ISLAMABAD: In another example of how heads of public sector universities misuse their offices for personal gain like re-appointment or extension of tenure in the country, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of a university in Gilgit Baltistan (GB) has succeeded in getting another full term of four years through the University’s Senate.
The VC who is going to complete his four-year term in May 2022, has been re-appointed for another four-year term even before completion of the first term through a suspicious decision of the senate of the university, of which a majority of members are allegedly his own handpicked.
The selection of members of the universities’ senate by the VCs and later using the same members for getting favorable decisions has become a norm in public universities in the country, which, according to an official of Higher Education Commission (HEC) is very unfortunate in affairs of the universities. The VCs, after enjoying the tenure post, usually try to get re-appointed through using the senate instead of going through the laid down procedure of test and interview after advertising the post.
Unfortunately, the appointing authority, the chancellors (President of Pakistan in case of federal universities and Governor in case of provincial universities) also ignore the set rules while facilitating the existing VCs which ultimately block the way for new bloods and energetic candidates for such posts.
On March 9, 2022, the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan issued a notification regarding re-appointment of VC of Karakorum International University (KIU) Dr Attaullah Shah renewing his tenure for another four years effective from June 1, 222 to May 31, 2026, despite a strong reservation in the faculty, students and general public of the area who demanded re-advertisement of the post. The renewal in his tenure was made as per the summary of the university’s senate in November 2021.
The senate of KIU, which met on November 2, 2021, had approved the renewing tenure of the VC with majority vote, although the same was not part of the agenda of the meeting. The chairman of the university senate, Prof Junaid Zaidi, had introduced the case of extension of VC’s tenure as a table agenda, as a surprise to few members of the senate despite the fact that the VC, at that time, had eight months to retire.
A member of the senate, an elected representative of faculty of the university, had strongly protested against the sudden introduction of the agenda saying that it has no justification to table an agenda of no urgent matter.
As per insiders, the member also raised serious questions over the intention of the agenda as the VC’s performance during the past four years was not satisfactory. He was of the view that set rules of appointment of VCs as mentioned in the university’s statute should be followed and the existing VC may apply for another term. However, some of the senate’s members, who are considered friends of the VC, insisted in giving the extension even months before the retirement.
Current VC, KIU, Dr. Attaullah Shah was appointed in June, 2018 for a period of four years and would complete the term in June 2022. The extension case of Current Vice Chancellor till 2026 was presented in the 19th KIU Senate meeting by the Senate Chairperson as a table agenda!
As a rule of business, only emergent issue(s) should be presented as a table agenda. It was not an emergent issue as the current Vice Chancellor has his tenure till May 31, 2022.
According to insiders the current Chairperson of KIU Senate (Prof. Dr. Muhammad Junaid Zaidi) who proposed the extension of the VC till 2026 has never visited KIU to see and observer the actual situation of KIU and performance of VC. The table agenda was approved and only one member who knows the ground realities didn’t agree with this extension.
Interestingly at least eight out of 12 members of the senate including Dr. Bushra Mirza, Nadeem-ul-Haque, Nishat Riaz, Asim Shahriyar Hussain, Dr. Dilovar Butabekov, Dr. Sarosh Hashmat Lodhi, Ms. Ayesha Khorsheed and Secretory Education GB, were newly appointed and the 19th meeting of KIU Senate was their first meeting whereas the secretory education GB was not invited to attend the meeting.
Being non-local except Mrs. Nishat Riaz and Ms. Ayesha Khorsheed, all new members were totally unaware about the ground realities of KIU including social, political, and religious dynamics of Gilgit-Baltistan.
As per complaints registered by some faculty members of the university even the first appointment of Dr. Attaullah Shah as VC was illegal as he lacked required experiences for the post. He remained Civil Engineer/Project Director at Allama Iqbal University Islamabad till 2014. He got PhD degree from University of Engineering & Technology Taxila in 2009. He had been forcefully/prematurely retired from AIOU due to certain allegations.
Afterward he tried to get a faculty job at COMSATS University Campus Abbottabad but he was not even considered for the post of Assistant Professor saying that he never had served as faculty at any HEC recognized university in Pakistan. Later on, due to intercession of someone, he succeeded to be appointed as VC in a private university “The City University Peshawar” which was entirely private dealing not a fair appointment because for appointment of a VC, a person must have 15 years teaching and research experience in an HEC recognized university which Dr. Attaullah Shah never had.
After his appointment as VC at city university, he started to use the nomenclature of professor with his name which was declared prohibited by the then Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed on the written complaint of some people. In AIOU, he was doing a typical job as Civil Engineer till 2014. He was not even eligible for the post of VC KIU whereas the minimum eligibility for the appointment of VC is qualification of a full professor i.e. 15 years teaching and Research experience in HEC recognized university.
His appointment as VC KIU was pre-plotted and the dissent note of HEC representative during his appointment is a proof of illegal appointment as the member said Ataullah Shah lacks relevant sufficient length of academic management experience. As per HEC’s prevailing rules, Dr. Attaullah Shah can’t be appointed as Professor or VC in any public sector University in Pakistan till 2029.
However when contacted, Attaullah Shah said that the Senate of KIU and Chancellor KIU/President of Pakistan are the best judges in the appointment case. The credentials of VC KIU were duly verified by VC Search Committee of KIU and Senate KIU comprised of senior professors and vice Chancellors, representative of HEC. Based on his outstanding services and achievements by Dr. Shah in his first tenure, Senate KIU recommended him for extension of tenure which was approved by the Chancellor after endorsement by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
According to him prior to KIU, he was appointed as VC by City University of Science and IT Peshawar based on his diverse experience in academia and research. He claims he has authored more than 40 papers in HEC approved research journals besides more than 60 papers in international conferences.
As per his written reply to queries, the VC claims he has been working as Director Project Planning and Projects at AIOU, where he has also been a faculty member in teaching courses to students of MS Environmental Design and supervised more than 20 students of MS. He also supervised PhD students at UET Taxila and CASE. As adjunct faculty, he taught at NUST, SZABIST, UET Peshawar and MIU. He has more than 32 years of professional and teaching & research experience.
After completing 25 years of qualifying services at AIOU, Dr. Shah proceeded for early retirement. No inquiry was ever conducted against rather he was awarded Best Employee Award by AIOU. After his appointment of VC KIU in 2018 he also cracked down against various mafias of KIU in various departments. He alleged that actually few discreditable people who came through back doors wanted to blackmail him as they wanted to get promoted without fulfilling the requirements. They used various tactics but he didn’t surrender.
