National Defence University unceremoniously sacks ailing registrar
NDU unceremoniously sacks ailing registrar
Islamabad: The management of National Defence University (NDU) has fired its registrar without citing any reason.
The NDU authorities terminated the services of Registrar Dr Syed Mujawar Hussain Shah on his return from a two-week leave for treatment of cancer without citing any reason or serving notice on him in sheer violation of rules. The NDU management has floated advertisement for the vacant seat of the registrar in what the faculty officials said a calculated move to accommodate former registrar National University of Modern Languages (Numl) Brig (retired) Obaidullah Ranjha who was forced to quit the job for thrashing a teacher in the institution recently.
Faculty members at the NDU said that Mr Shah had played key role in getting NDU recognised from the Higher Education Commission (HEC) by establishing five departments and enrolling 400 students as basic requirements for a university.
“In the last three years since NDU was established, I had not availed a single casual leave. I got admitted in hospital for treating cancer and was on leave for two weeks. As I returned to my office, I found the termination letter of my services without any notice or reason,” Dr Shah said on Tuesday.
According to HEC criteria, a non-PhD person cannot be appointed as vice-chancellor of any public sector university. The NDU is perhaps the only university which has been exempted from the rule and is currently headed by a non-PhD.
The faculty heads at NDU have been outraged over the dramatic termination of Dr Shah’s services. However, sources said the teaching staff had been warned of serious consequences by the high command of the university if they showed any resistance outside the campus.
Despite repeated attempts by this reporter to contact NDU Vice-Chancellor General M. Yousuf, his staff officer Major Mubashir said: “My boss is busy in a function.”
However, Brig Asif, who is heading the overall coordination branch of the NDU, said he had no knowledge of the termination of the registrar, adding what he knew was that his office had published an advertisement for the vacant post of the registrar. Dawn