Governor claims most of candidates recommended by search committee faced allegations of financial corruption.
LAHORE - A difference of opinion has emerged between Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan over the issue of appointment of 14 Vice-chancellors in the public sector universities. The Punjab governor has not yet approved a summary received from the Chief Minister’s office advising him to appoint as Vice-chancellors the candidates mentioned at serial number one in the list of three candidates selected by the search committee for each university.
Talking to a news channel on Thursday, Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider said that the chief minister wanted him to approve the name mentioned at the top of the list of three recommended candidates to be appointed as the Vice-chancellor; whereas he thinks that the governor should pick one name from amongst the three recommended names.
The governor maintained that the CM’s summary should mention the three names alphabetically without highlighting one name at the top of the list. He said he would select one person as Vice-chancellor from amongst the three names. He said he would also consult his legal experts in this regard. The governor also alleged that most of the candidates recommended by the search committee as Vice-Chancellors had serious allegations of financial corruption. Governor House sources say the governor will take a decision on the summary on Friday (today). “He may or may not approve the summary”, they said.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Governor Sardar Salim Haider Khan conducted interviews of candidates shortlisted by the search committee for the positions of Vice Chancellors the other day. The governor interviewed candidates finalized by the search committee for 13 public universities, including Punjab University, Lahore College for Women University, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Fatima Jinnah Women University, University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, and Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi.
The governor said he was committed to improving the educational standards of universities as the Chancellor. “Merit will be ensured in the appointments of Vice Chancellors,” he added.
While giving a rebuttal on the statement of the Punjab Governor, Information Minister Azma Bokhari stated that the work of the governor is to assent the steps and decisions being taken by the Punjab Assembly and the cabinet. “The governor is not empowered to overrule the decisions of the cabinet. The Punjab governor remained a former federal minister and he should be well aware about the importance of the cabinet decisions”, she said in a statement here.
Azma Bokhari explained that the cabinet approved the selection committee for the appointment of the Vice Chancellors of the universities of the province. The selection committee interviewed all the aspiring candidates to be appointed as Vice Chancellors in the universities and recommended the names of eligible, senior and experienced educationists as Vice Chancellors.
The information minister said that there was a party named Tehreek-e-Insaf for indulging into political point-scoring. She asked the governor to confine himself to his constitutional role instead of playing the role of an opposition.