KARACHI:
Serious questions have surfaced over the upcoming Senate meeting of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science & Technology (FUUAST), after it emerged that two crucial letters from the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Federal Ministry of Education regarding the Vice Chancellor’s salary were deliberately excluded from the agenda issued by the university administration for the September 3 session.
According to sources, both government bodies had explicitly advised against the continuation of the current salary being drawn by Vice Chancellor Dr. Zabta Khan Shinwari. However, contrary to these directives, the university administration – on the basis of a last pay certificate from 2019 when he retired as a TTS Professor – has been paying him a monthly salary of nearly Rs. 800,000 under the “pay protection” principle, since his appointment as VC in March 2024.
This arrangement, sources claim, not only disregards HEC and Ministry guidelines but also bypasses the authority of the Chancellor (the President of Pakistan), who alone is empowered to fix the terms and remuneration of the university’s permanent Vice Chancellor. Despite these clear instructions, the matter was neither rectified nor referred to the Chancellor Secretariat.
HEC, in a formal communication, underlined that Dr. Shinwari had retired in March 2019 and thus did not qualify as a serving TTS faculty member at the time of his 2024 appointment as Vice Chancellor. The Commission stressed that any salary determination must therefore be referred to the Chancellor’s office for approval.
What makes the situation more controversial is that, while the VC continues to draw an inflated salary, the teaching and non-teaching staff of the university have not been paid house ceiling allowances for nearly a year, and regular salaries and pensions are reportedly being disbursed after delays of two to three months.
Sources told The Express Tribune that the draft agenda circulated for the Senate session seeks approval for the Vice Chancellor’s pay without disclosing these official objections – a move seen as an attempt to secure Senate approval by concealing facts. It is noteworthy that previously, an acting Vice Chancellor was removed from office for drawing salary without Senate approval, and the Registrar at that time received a formal notice from the Chancellor.
Meanwhile, in view of these developments, HEC has formally constituted an investigative committee to probe financial and administrative irregularities at FUUAST’s Islamabad and Karachi campuses. The committee has been tasked with examining instances of misuse of authority, harassment, discrimination, and alleged victimization of faculty and staff.
The inquiry body is convened by Engineer Raza Chauhan, HEC Adviser HRD, with members including Aftab Rasheed (Senior Joint Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education), Nazir Hussain (Director General HEC Karachi), and Hammad bin Saif (Assistant Director Coordination, HEC). The committee has begun its work under a notification titled: “Constitution of a Committee on Multiple Complaints of Financial and Administrative Irregularities at Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science & Technology (Islamabad & Karachi Campuses).”
When approached for comment, University Treasurer Danish Ehsan was repeatedly contacted via calls and messages by The Express Tribune, but no response was received.
