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

KUST students protest lack of equipment at labs

Source The News

The students of the Kohat University of Science and Technology (KUST) enrolled in the Electrical Engineering Department boycotted classes on Wednesday and staged protest against the administration for not installing equipment at the laboratories.

Talking to The News, third year students of the Electrical Engineering Department said the equipment for the laboratories had been purchased two months ago by the KUST management. However, they alleged that the delay by the administration to install the equipment and establish proper laboratories compelled them to boycott classes since last Monday.

The protesters added that practical work at the laboratories for the engineering students was the mandatory requirement of the Higher Education Commission. They said their registration was delayed due to absence of proper laboratories and it could delay award of degrees to them upon completion of the course.

KUST VC defends action against protesting students 16 students sent to jail

Kohat University 45 PhD Scholars Face Uncertain Future

Source Dawn



The future of 45 scholars of Kohat University of Science and Technology, studying abroad, hangs in the balance owing to unusual delay in the payment of fourth year expenses of their extended PhD programme by Higher Education Commission.
The scholars, through a letter, brought the matter in the notice of university administration few months ago and requested for more payment besides demanding extension in leaves. Their three-year leaves expired last year.
The KUST syndicate resolved the problem of their extended stay by approving their leaves. The vice-chancellor, who was in constant contact with the officials concerned, hoped that HEC would save the future of the students and make payment without further delay keeping in view the serious nature of the case.
The KUST had taken up the issue with HEC two months ago and demanded of it Rs7 million as payment of last year fees of the scholars, who were pursuing their PhDs in Germany and United Kingdom.
According to sources, KUST had sent 26 scholars to UK and 19 to Germany for three-year PhD programme. The university and the HEC had signed three years agreement with the foreign universities concerned. The monthly fees in pound sterling were being regularly sent to the scholars for the last three years and their visas were also refreshed every year.
The director finance of KUST, Amjad, when contacted, confirmed that the scholars were facing financial problems. “The PhD programme was originally approved for three year according to PC-1 document. The universities had said that they offered three years PhD programme after which the agreement was duly signed between HEC and the universities,” he said.
But unfortunately the three years programme was converted into four years owing to delay in approval of thesis of students by their supervisors, he added.
The universities demanded payment for the fourth year and made it clear that if fees were not paid the students would not be granted degrees and the UK and Germany governments would have to deport them.
The 12th meeting of the syndicate of KUST approved the extended leaves of the 45 students and informed the foreign universities that payment was in the pipeline and would be made very soon. The approval to the extended leaves was made fortnight back.
The HEC had told KUST last year that according to PC-1 it had cleared all the payment for three years and was not in a position to bear expenses for the extended period.
Amjad said that the students required payment up to October 2011 to complete and submit their thesis but for further payment HEC and KUST would have to prepare fresh PC-1 if the former agreed to bear the expenses. The HEC had not made any decision about more payment as yet and the matter was being regularly taken up by KUST to save the future of the teachers, who had been sent for PhD.
Another official at the university regretted that owing to drastic cut in HEC budget and its uncertain future, it was very difficult to make such a huge payment.
Moreover, the decision to devolve HEC to provinces was also not clear therefore payment of fees of the scholars seemed almost impossible for the time being, he added.

Improper appointments at KUST alleged

Source The News


The management of Kohat University for Science and Technology has been accused of gross violation in appointments against various administrative and other positions.Some of the officials have been reappointed after reaching the age of superannuation against the Supreme Court verdict, sources told The News.

The registrar of the university Tariq Saleem Qasuria has been reappointed on contract twice after his retirement in August last year, the sources said. “The registrar was given six-month extension after his retirement, which expired in February last. He is still holding the office in violation of the Supreme Court verdict about reappointment of the retired officials,” an official at the university said while requesting not to be named.

The university also set a new tradition by appointing Dr Taslim Hussain as associate professor in 2008 without following any procedure, the sources said, adding that he had been hired despite not fulfilling the criteria for the position.

Appointed as associate profession in violation of all rules and regulations, Taslim Hussain was promoted as full professor in December last without having 10-year post PhD experience, which is a pre-requisite for the position, the sources added.

The position of station manager of the university’s radio had not been advertised and Kamran Khattak, close relative of a senior leader of the ruling Awami National Party, was appointed against it, the sources said.

The sources also revealed that Asia Bokhari had been serving as deputy director quality enhancement cell despite the fact that the selection board of the university rejected her twice in 2007 and 2010.

None of the high-ups of the university could be reached on all their available contact numbers for comments. Vice-chancellor of the university Prof Dr Nasir Jamal was not present in his office, while nobody was receiving phone call at his contact numbers in Peshawar. The registrar was out of his office and his cell phone was not responding. An official at the registrar’s office suggested calling another official at the library section, but he too was not available.

Kohat University of Science students asked to vacate hostels

Source Dawn

The administration of Kohat University of Science and Technology (Kust) has asked the students to vacate two hostels before Sept 6 otherwise it will not be responsible for any loss of luggage.


University sources told Dawn that the administration had decided to give two hostels -- B-1 and B-2 -- to a private contractor, who had been authorised to fix the monthly rent.

The students of several unions contacted Dawn and said that they would not vacate the hostels at any cost because the administration was already charging exorbitant annual tuition fee and now wanted to put more financial burden on the students.

Earlier, the university provost in a press release had informed the students to voluntarily vacate these hostels for necessary repair and whitewash.He said that after Eid holidays the hostels would be handed over to a private contractor who would make fresh allotments. He also warned that if the hostels were not vacated before the deadline, the university administration would remove the belongings of the students by force and it would not be responsible for any kind of damage to the luggage.

On the other hand, the students alleged that the private contractor was not being brought to improve the living conditions and solve their problem, but in fact the administration wanted to generate handsome profit from its hostels by privatising them, which was not in the interest of poor students.

They expressed the fear that many students would not be able to bear extra burden of the revised rent and might be forced to discontinue their studies.

It had been learnt that the increase in annual fee of the Kohat Medical College and Kust had been made following the announcement of 60 per cent cut by the Higher Education Commission in varsity allocations. The universities had been asked to immediately halt new constructions and projects and delay the running projects by three years.

Kust, established in an old building of the commerce college, bore the major brunt as it had to stop construction of hostels and classrooms. As a result more than 50 per cent students of the medical college and Kust had to hire rooms in private guest houses and hotels at their own expense.

The students belonging to well-to-do families were living in furnished guest houses while the poor lot had to hire accommodation in dirty business centres of Kohat like chicken market and live as neighbours with the eunuch community in Teerah Bazaar.Dawn

Kohat varsity fails to provide roll number slips

Source The News

Several students of the Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Science (BSc) from Kurram Agency could not appear in the fist paper on Tuesday as the Kohat University failed to provide them roll number slips in time, sources said.




The sources said BA and BSc examinations got underway and first paper - Islamiyat (compulsory) — was scheduled for Tuesday but several students were not allowed to enter the examination hall because they did not have the roll number slips.



The students made pleas to the examination staff that it was not their fault but to no avail.The affected students later staged a protest to voice their resentment at the negligence on the part of the Kohat University staff and demanded action by the higher authorities.



Some of the students, Abdullah, Javed and Mohammad Ghulam who missed the paper, told The News that the Kohat University was meting step motherly treatment to the students from Kurram Agency.



The aggrieved students demanded of the university authorities to provide them roll number slips so that they could appear in the remaining papers. They also requested the governor and other relevant authorities to take action against the erring staff of the examination department of the university whose irresponsible action caused them academic loss.

Militants free KUST VC after 6 months of captivity

Source: The News

Militants on Tuesday freed vice-chancellor of the Kohat University of Science and Technology (KUST) Dr Lutfullah Kakakhel, after six and a half months of captivity.




“Yes, he has been released and first went to the Governor’s House for a meeting with Owais Ahmed Ghani,” Saleh Kakakhel, the eldest son of the released academician, who had been running from pillar to post to secure the recovery of his father, confirmed to The News.



The Kohat commissioner also confirmed the recovery of missing vice- chancellor and said he had been recovered from a tribal area. “We have been making hectic efforts for his release since he was kidnapped. The kidnappers had been shifting him from one place to another. Finally we managed his safe and sound recovery,” Khalid Khan Umerazai, commissioner of Kohat division, said.The recovered senior academician was taken to the Governor’s House amid strict security.



Commissioner Kohat, a source said, had asked Dr Lutfullah a few days before his kidnapping to take proper security measures while travelling through volatile Darra Adamkhel. The vice-chancellor, however, never paid heed to the matter that concerned his security.



It was not known whether ransom had been paid to the kidnappers or the security forces managed to recover the scientist. Sources disclosed the kidnappers were demanding Rs40 million as well as release of some of their men for freeing Dr Kakakhel.



Authorities had arrested 63 tribesmen from Frontier Region Kohat and impounded their four vehicles under Collective Responsibility Section of the Frontier Crimes Regulation in the case. Search operations were conducted in Orakzai and Pastawuna area of Darra Adamkhel as well as other tribal areas in the past six months for the recovery of Dr Lutfullah.



“I am thankful to all those who made efforts for my release,” Dr Lutfullah told media persons. He added that kidnappers had made him hostage to secure release of their men.Hundreds of relatives, friends, colleagues and students of Dr Lutfullah gathered at his residence to greet the vice-chancellor. Many broke into tears after failing to control their emotions.



Dr Lutfullah Kakakhel, in his early 60s, was kidnapped on November 6 last year along with driver Raj Wali and another staff member Nadir Sarfaraz from Akhurwal, Darra Adamkhel on way from office to his residence inside the UoP campus. The two other persons were later freed but he was shifted to an unknown place.



Dr Lutfullah did his PhD from Glasgow University in Scotland in 1978 after which he taught there for few years before returning Pakistan.Two of his children are electrical engineers while another is a student of the KP University of Engineering and Technology. The spouse of Dr Lutfullah is a professor at the Bio-Technology Department of the University of Peshawar.



Meanwhile, Federation of Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association president Dr Fida thanked the media and all the government functionaries, who highlighted the case of the vice-chancellor and thus played a role in securing his safe release.

Talks for VC’s release face deadlock

posted in dawn

Negotiations for release of the Kohat university vice-chancellor have reached a deadlock after militants put forward tough conditions to the government, sources told Dawn on Thursday.

Kohat University of Science and Technology vice-chancellor Dr Lutfullah Kakakhel was kidnapped on Nov 6, 2009, from the Akhorwal area in Darra Adamkhel by seven armed people.

Talks for his release hit snags after the killing of 17 tribesmen whose bodies were found in a graveyard in Darra Adamkhel last month, the sources said.

A Taliban spokesman, while talking to Dawn, alleged that these tribesmen had been taken hostage by security forces during search operations during the last four months for their blood relationship with their different commanders and fighters, and then had been killed in custody.

Earlier, the Taliban had demanded the release of four people and end to military operation in Darra Adamkhel to free the vice-chancellor.

Some progress had been made in the talks, but the Taliban leaders suspended dialogue after the deaths of the tribesmen.

Highly-placed sources told Dawn that Taliban chief for Darra Adamkhel and Khyber Agency Tariq Afridi had now demanded release of all tribesmen arrested from Darra Adamkhel, whose number is in hundreds.

He has also demanded a ransom of Rs50 million and handing over of 60 important TTP members who have been in the custody of security forces for two years.

VC kidnapping case: Too hot for civilians to handle

posted in dawn


Authorities have handed over the case of kidnapping of the vice-chancellor of the Kohat University of Science and Technology to the military due to its sensitive nature, sources said.

The military has blamed Taliban commander Tariq Afridi for kidnapping vice-chancellor Dr Lutfullah Kakakhel.

According to the military authorities controlling Darra Adamkhel from where the vice-chancellor was kidnapped, the victim was first taken to Matani and then shifted to the Ghiljo area in upper Orakzai Agency.

“We are not 100 per cent sure as yet about his whereabouts, but are investigating the case from all angles to ascertain the real cause behind the kidnapping of the VC, whose director administration and driver were not taken away by the armed men. If the purpose of kidnapping was to put pressure on the government for release of the arrested militants or ransom, the director, who was accompanying the VC at the time of the incident, would also have been kidnapped. But surprisingly, only the VC was taken away along with the official vehicle,” military sources said.

Police sources, however, claim the vice-chancellor is in the custody of a criminal gang belonging to the Matani area of Peshawar. They, too, are surprised why only the vice-chancellor was kidnapped.

So far, the vice-chancellor’s family or law-enforcement agencies have not been contacted by the kidnappers.

The vice-chancellor was kidnapped on Nov 6 from the Akhorwal area of Darra Adamkhel while he was going to Peshawar from Kohat.

Meanwhile, teachers and students of the Kohat University of Science and Technology on Thursday called upon the government to expedite efforts for safe recovery of the vice-chancellor, APP reports.

Speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club, they warned of launching a province-wide movement if the vice-chancellor was not safely recovered.

deadline from KUST faculty

posted in dawn

The faculty members and students of Kohat University of Science and Technology set a three-day deadline to the government for the recovery of the kidnapped vice-chancellor here on Saturday. The staff and the students staged a protest on the premises of KUST and strongly criticised government for its failure to provide security to the life and property of people.

Kidnapping of VC: 15 elders held

posted ind dawn

The political administration of Darra Adamkhel arrested 15 tribal elders and impounded four vehicles of Akhorwal tribe under Frontier Crimes Regulations in connection with the kidnapping of vice-chancellor of Kohat University on Saturday.

The Khasadars arrested 15 tribesmen and impounded their four vehicles. The tribal elders were shifted to Spina Thana along with seized vehicles by the security forces.

The vice-chancellor of Kohat University of Science and Technology, Dr Lutfullah Kakakhel, was kidnapped by militants in Darra Adamkhel while on his way to Peshawar from Kohat on Friday night.

The assistant political agent of Frontier Region of Kohat, Kifayatullah Khan, asked the Akhorwal tribe to recover the kidnapped vice-chancellor, who was kidnapped from their soil or action would continue against them. They were warned if they failed to get the educationist released from Taliban their all 72 elders would be put behind the bars and their businesses would also be closed.

Meanwhile, the political administration ordered all the Khasadars to report to their duty in Darra Adamkhel immediately. It is important to mention here that the political administration had stopped Khasadars from performing their duties owing to growing activities of Taliban last year.

Sources said that the vice-chancellor might have been shifted to Khyber Agency or Orakzai Agency by Taliban through unfrequented routes which they used for carrying out terrorists acts in Darra Adamkhel.

Results of KUST will be annouced today

posted in dawn


The Kohat University of Science and Technology will announce results of B.Com Part-I and Part-II examination, 2009 at 11am on Friday.

A notification issued on Thursday by the controller examination, Azad Khatak, said the candidates interested in rechecking of their papers should submit their applications within 20 days with the examination section.

The candidates whose result had been withheld due to unfair means cases should appear before the committee concerned on Nov 5 between 10am and 2pm, it said. Similarly, the detailed marks certificates could be collected by the candidates from the office of principal of their schools.

National Chemistry Conference

posted in dawn



The 19th National Chemistry Conference will be held at Baragali on June 9 under the auspices of Kohat University of Science and Technology (KUST).

The aim of the conference is to share knowledge and provide a platform to the scientists of country to explore ways to support industry and improve professional skills.

Eminent scientists will deliver lectures on different topics.