islamabad - The Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) inquiry committee formed to investigate the allegations on Vice Chancellor (VC) on Wednesday gave a one week deadline to Academic Staff Association (ASA) to prove the charges levelled against the institution head, an official said on Wednesday.
The official said that the ten-day timeframe given to ASA to prove its allegations against VC Prof. Dr. Javed Ashraf ended on Wednesday. However the teachers’ body didn’t prove any solid allegation with evidence.“The inquiry committee head gave a seven days deadline to ASA for proving his allegations,” said the official.
Academic activities at QAU were restored on March 30th after a strike of more than fifty days by the protesting faculty. Federal Minister for Education Baligh-ur-Rehman taking notice of the situation had formed a 13-member committee to probe the allegations levelled on VC.
The committee headed by Joint Education Advisor (JEA) Dr. Rafique Tahir was comprised of one member form Higher Education Commission (HEC) one from law division and five each representing ASA and VC side.
The official said that despite several rounds of meetings held by the committee, ASA has remained unsuccessful and the VC will likely resume his charge again in few days.
According to Terms of References (TORs) set by the committee VC Prof. Dr. Javed Ashraf’s ten days leave was approved and senior dean Dr. Waqar Ali Shah was given the charge of Acting VC until the inquiry committee reached a decision.
“VC will not resume his office until discussions are underway,” said the official. The official also added that there was confusion on Monday when ten days including holidays were completed and it was expected that VC will resume his charge.
“The ministry had to notify another order adding two more days in VC’s leave,” the official said.
ASA focused on the allegations regarding alleged financial embezzlement issues, however, the committee was not convinced by the arguments of ASA,” said the official.
The official said that the education ministry was also facing pressure to normalize the situation at the campus and had given seven days to both sides to reach an agreement.
“VC can legally can resume his office but top officials at ministry asked him to remain ‘flexible’ till the discussions are underway,” official said.
The official said the documentary evidence against VC is not strong enough and the latter will be on strong grounds for resuming office.
“Leaves could be extended but committee wants to solve this issue completely,” said the official.
VC QAU Prof. Dr. Javed Ashraf said that the ten days of his leave will complete on Wednesday but declined to comment on the discussion rounds following the TORs of the committee.
