Rules violated in Kohat varsity appointments

The syndicate of the Kohat University of Science and Technology has appointed 30 PhDs as assistant professors after approval by the selection board against the rules.

The assistant professors, who had completed their PhDs, were appointed in BPS-19 under the old Basic Pay Scale (BPS) system of appointment instead of the current tenure track (TT) system after three-day marathon meeting of the syndicate held recently, according to sources.

Under the rules, once university or degree-awarding institution adopts the TT system for appointments, PhD degree holders can’t be appointed assistant professors under the old BPS system.

The sources said the registrar of the university working in BPS-18 was also promoted to BPS-19 by the selection board and appointed in BPS system as assistant professor.

They said the registrar had been working in BPS-18 for two years and was awarded BPS-19 suddenly though under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa University Act, 2012, the registrar should be an experienced officer of BPS-19 or above.

The sources said the registrar was serving in BPS-18 against the rules.

They said the syndicate approved the agenda in two days without putting it before the members for review 10 days before holding the meeting under the laws.

When contacted, the public relations officer of the university claimed that all appointments in the university had been made in line with the rules.

He said the syndicate met a fortnight ago with the vice chancellor in the chair and professors, assistant professors, deans and associate professors, who were changed after every three years to ensure transparency in the appointments, in attendance.The PRO said the selection board of every faculty was separate and when a large number of appointments were to be made, two PhDs were made part of the board as experts of the relevant subjects.

He said the members of the selection board, too, were changed after every three years.

Meanwhile, the students have demanded the immediate lifting of ban on their assembly and the transfer of the vice chancellor.

Source Dawn