SPLA warns of protest outside KU VC office if demands not met

KARACHI: Expressing concern over an upcoming meeting of the Senate of Karachi University as it lacks representation from affiliate colleges, the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) in a meeting on Sunday warned the varsity administration of a protest on Wednesday if their demands were not met.

Seeking intervention from the caretaker chief minister over what it described as a “biased attitude” and “nepotism” of the incumbent vice chancellor, the association held a meeting and urged the chancellor to address the grievances of the KU-affiliated colleges.

The meeting was attended by its central president Prof Munawwar Abbas, Prof Asmat Jehan, Prof Rasul Qazi, Prof Mohammad Adeel Khawja, Prof Shabana Afzal, Prof Nadeem Ahmed, Prof Hussain Moosa, Prof Asif Muneer and Prof Abu Bakar Baloch.

“If the KU administration did­n’t postpone the Senate meeting scheduled for Dec 29 and give college teachers representation on its statutory bodies, the association will hold a protest outside the VC office on Dec 20,” said a statement issued after the meeting.

Seeks caretaker CM’s intervention in varsity’s affairs

Speaking to Dawn, Prof Abbas condemned the KU administration for calling a meeting of the university Senate, currently lacking representation of the teachers associated with the KU-affiliated colleges, and alleged that they (college teachers) were deliberately being kept away from the decision-making process.

“This is so because we raise our voice against illegal decisions. We demand that the chief minister in his capacity as the chancellor of the public sector universities take notice of the KU vice chancellor’s attitude. He has deprived the college teachers of representation on the university statutory bodies for several years,” he said.

Prof Abbas explained that the principals and teachers associated with the affiliated colleges had no representation on the KU Senate since 2019 and 2021, respectively.

“The principles have three seats on the university Senate whereas teachers have 12 seats on it. The tenure of college principals’ representatives having four seats on the KU academic council ended this year in June while elections on the five seats reserved for the college teachers have been pending since 2015.”

The association in its meeting accused the KU VC of nepotism and said that recently he got “one of his friends” elected as member of the KU syndicate on a seat reserved for the college teachers.

“The KU syndicate has a single seat for college teachers and this too was given away to a retired teacher, also a friend of the vice chancellor,” the association said in the statement.

It also demanded that the KU administration pay their dues of more than Rs6 million pending since 2019.

It might be recalled that the KU syndicate took several “controversial” decisions last month, forcing two members to seek recourse through seven notes of dissent.

The appointment of a retired KU faculty member, Prof Dr Nusrat Idress, currently associated with a private institution, as a member of the syndicate had raised eyebrows. The controversial decision taken by the syndicate also included her nomination as a member of the Advanced Study Research Board (ASRB) for three years.

The SPLA contends that the syndicate seat is reserved for the public sector colleges.

Dr Idrees nomination in ASRB was also termed a violation of the KU code of conduct because only in-service university professors could become members of the research body.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2023