KARACHI: Disagreements between the officers’ association and the management of Karachi University have been unveiled due to the impartiality of the acting management in rewarding the employees on favoritism. Some of the affected employees have even prepared to go to court and NAB. The Acting Administration of Karachi University is continuing its campaign to reward the officers and employees instead of the necessary matters for the betterment of the University including the functioning of private banks, canteen rents, authorship and compilation department. Dr. Hassan Ooj has submitted his resignation to the Registrar.
According to the list issued under the signature of Registrar Dr. Maqsood Ansari on the orders of Acting Vice-Chancellor Dr. Prof. Nasira Khatun, who is in charge of day-to-day affairs of Karachi University, 68 employees have been upgraded from Grade 16 to Grade 17. Several employees strongly protested that if the university administration has taken this decision in the spirit of the syndicate, then the recommendations of the syndicate are also related to their cases. Therefore, computer operators should also be upgraded. Dozens more employees in DPC should have been upgraded instead of 68 only.
There is also a rift between the Karachi University Officers’ Welfare Association, which has been instrumental in upgrading the employees, said Farid Mama, general secretary of the association. The Assistant Registrar (General) Farman Rasool said that the letter would be issued on Monday due to which a hot argument broke out between the two. After which Farman Rasool asked Farid Mama to apologize in writing, but he refused.
Later, the President of Karachi University Officers Welfare Association, Dr. Hassan Ojj apologized, after which he was told by the General Secretary that he is the President and he should not have apologized without any reason. After which Dr. Hassan submitted his resignation to Registrar Maqsood Ansari stating that he is resigning as President and in his place, Vice President Matin Aziz will take over the responsibilities till the next election as he is in charge of other committees including DPC, Medical Committee, House Allocation Committee.
It is to be noted that 46 computer operators were promoted in 16 grades in Karachi University in 2010 against the rules and regulations. Surprisingly, the computer operators who have been upgraded to 14th and 16th grade in recent days have been called senior computer operators while only computer operators who have been promoted to 16th grade in 2010 are called illegal.
According to the documents, 46 computer operators were promoted to Grade 16 in 2010 illegally, while other computer operators in other departments were deprived of promotions. The affected computer operator had lodged his complaint with the Provincial Ombudsman of Sindh Central, on which the Provincial Ombudsman of Sindh Central Nazir Ahmad Qadwai on 11 January 2017, through his office order number POS / 185/2015 / KC-408, informed the Vice-Chancellor of the affected computer operator. It was asked to resolve the issue of upgrading as soon as possible and submit a report to the office of the provincial ombudsman within 45 days.
In this regard, the Registrar of Karachi University has been resorting to misrepresentation through his letters to the Provincial Ombudsman of Sindh Central and lying that the problem of computer operators has been solved. However, no action could be taken against the management of Karachi University.
Last year, on April 10, 2021, the Syndicate had made it clear in its resolution that the employees of Computer Operators Grade 15 should be considered in 16 and Grade 17, however, the management of Karachi University has been deprived of promotion for many years against the decision of its own syndicate. Computer operators have been reluctant to give grade 17, while employees who have been promoted in grade 16 have been promoted to grade 17 under the incentive scheme against the approved rules. Senior computer operators have sent a letter to the management of Karachi University in which they have expressed their concerns and hinted at legal action.
Computer operators are said to be so influential that the permanent vice-chancellor, the late Dr. Muhammad Ajmal Khan, the acting vice-chancellor, Khalid Mahmoud Iraqi, and now the current vice-chancellor, Nasira Khatun, look helpless in front of them. Zia-ul-Haq, Personal Assistant (Dean Science Personal Secretary), Grade 16 employee and Assistant Registrar (General) Farman Rasool are giving misleading information to the Vice-Chancellor and making regular policy decisions instead of daily. But there is a possibility of a NAB inquiry.
The effectiveness of these employees can be gauged from the fact that they have started threatening the media representatives with serious consequences, while the leaked audio of some employees has increased the pressure on the university administration and they have also been asked to do their job and in case of non-performance, there is a conspiracy to stop the work and not to work under the pretext of failing the management, while the extremely vulgar language has been used in leaked audio of employees against Vice-Chancellor, Deans and several other officers.
In this regard, a formal statement has been issued by the Education Journalists Association of Pakistan in which it was said that the administration should take action against those who threatened education reporters with serious consequences by some employees of Karachi University. It has been said that Karachi University, sensitive and law enforcement agencies should take action against the said employees so that no one may be harmed by the evil of these employees. One of the purposes of rudeness is to weaken the administration.
Employees promoted to 17 grade from 16th:
Among those promoted were IES Administrative Officer Sheikh Farid-ud-Din, Examination Calligrapher Rehan Mustafa, Computer Operator Irfan-ud-Din, Adil Jamil Khan, Farhaj Qureshi, Fawad Obaid, Gohar Saleem, Hamid Mansoor Hashmi, Javed Iqbal, Jawad Javed Beg, Khush. Bakht, Layek Ahmed, M. Jalaluddin Khan, Mir Sarfraz Ali, Mohammad Amir Iraqi, Mohammad Munirullah, Mohammad Zahid, Nadeem Ahmed, Naseer Ahmed, Raheel Shakeel, Reyastullah Khan, SM Saad Ejaz, Sajid Rauf, Syed Faisal Abdali, Syed Kashif Shahbaz, Syed Muhammad Noman, Tajuddin and Tariq Ali.
Also, Computer Operator Waheed Aslam, Computer Programmer Ziaullah K. Shirazi, Saqib Wakil, Muhammad Fayyaz, Electrician Athar Abbas, Field Supervisor Tariq Najamuddin, Instructor Operator Shakeel-ur-Rehman, Junior Accountant Basit Hussain, S Najam Hassan, Muhammad Raees Ahmed, Imran Shehzad Iftikhar-ud-Din, Mohammad Rashid, S. Iftikhar Hussain, Tahir Ali, Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Mohammad Waqas Saleem, S. Almas A Askari, Zubair Azmi, Lab News Operator Arshad Ali, Lab Supervisor Hameed Hussain, Lab Supervisor M Shakeel, Library Assistant Tasneem Rehmat, Media Technician Ayubullah Siddiqui, PA Zia ul Haq, Quantity Surveyor Naeemuddin, Assistant Sales Manager S Abdul Wahab Atiq, Sub Engineer Ashfaq Ahmed and others are included.
Upgradation and pay fixation
Sources said that the up-gradation given by Director of Finance Tariq Kaleem has been widely condemned and serious concerns have also been raised over the matter. It is being indicated that he will not fix the pay of the employees as the computer operator who was in grade 13 now how will he get the salary of Grade 17? Because the salary was listed in the budget according to Grade 13 while the approval of Syndicate and Senate besides the Planning and Finance Committee was required to issue salaries according to Grade 17 so that the budget would be prepared accordingly.
It is to be noted that at Karachi University, even now the Director of Finance, Tariq Kaleem, is facing objections to the pay-fixing files of about two hundred to two hundred and fifty employees.
