Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Red tape hurdle in good governance


Kampus Korridors




By Khalid Khattak



THE lethargic attitude of government officials, their lukewarm response and lack of coordination regarding issues of immediate attention have been a matter of concern for stakeholders over the years.

This not only exposes the so-called good governance but also shows as to how the government remains unmoved and does not bother to introduce reforms to benefit the masses.
The most recent example of official sluggishness and indifference is related to public sector universities of the province.

In the first case, the academic circles are quite critical of top officials of the Higher Education Department Punjab for delaying the removal of dozens of officials of public varsities whose appointment against key posts is being dubbed illegal in the wake of October 5 judgment of a division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC).

The division bench of the LHC had declared the appointment of Dr Shahid Mehboob Rana as Acting Vice-Chancellor Government College University (GCU) Faisalabad, by the governor Punjab as illegal because it was made without seeking advice of the chief minister.

After the LHC judgment, the Higher Education Department had sought advice from the Punjab Law Department asking whether the department, after the court verdict, was required to process the case regarding cancellation of all orders/notifications issued by the governor without seeking the chief minister's advice.

The department had received the reply on October 14 from the Law Department according to which all such orders without seeking advice of the CM were illegal.

It is pertinent to mention here that since then, no action has been taken against the top officials of different varsities, including a pro vice-chancellor (PVC) and deans of various faculties, and they are still enjoying the coveted posts, illegally.

The department officials claim that the delay was witnessed in collection of data from different varsities across the province. Nevertheless, one wonders as to how the data collection requires so much time in this era of computer technology. However, the stakeholders term the same sheer sluggishness on part of department's bosses was behind the delay as they could not initiate action despite passage of over a month. They say the delay has been greatly irking other eligible candidates who can be posted against these important slots.


Similarly, the stakeholders are also critical of the Higher Education Department for delaying the stopgap arrangements for the University of Education (UoE) and Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) following the expiry of tenure of vice-chancellors (VCs) of both the varsities on November 20, 2010. It is also important to note here that since then both the varsities have been functioning without VCs. As per prevailing procedure, regular VCs are appointed through VC Search Committee process while temporary arrangements are made under which an official looks after the office of the VC.



The terms of four other VCs will expire in the near future, including those of Government College University Lahore's Prof Dr Khalid Aftab (February 25, 2011), Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) Multan's Dr Muhammad Zafarullah (January 26, 2011) and University of Sargodha's Prof Dr Muhammad Akram Ch (February 11, 2011) and Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) Rawalpindi's Prof Dr Saeeda Asadullah Khan (March 11, 2011).According to stakeholders, the department being well-informed should take up the cases before expiry of term of a VC so that similar situation does not surface in future and varsities do not suffer owing to absence of top administrators. Academic circles are also demand the government cut through the red tape and introduce reforms for transparent and quick handling of the cases of public interest.

—lachvee@gmail.com


Sources: The News International
Monday, November 29, 2010.
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