The online meeting of FAPUASA Punjab Chapter was held on Wednesday 10/06/2020 at 2:30 p.m under the chair of its President Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Anwar Ch. Representatives from Academic Staff Associations (ASA) from different Universities of the Punjab attended the meeting. The President of FAPUASA Central Dr Sohail Yousaf was also present. Major issues affecting Universities in general and faculty/staff in particular were discussed at length. The representatives strongly agreed on the following points.
FAPUASA Punjab Chapter strongly condemns and opposes the attempts to impose a politically influenced “Uniform Model Universities Act”. Any such attempt to reduce or compromise to autonomy of Universities would be met with resistance by faculty. FAPUASA does not accept the proposal to appoint retired judges or bureaucrats, as head of Syndicate. The Higher Education Department and relevant Punjab Ministries/Secretariats should consult with Universities in general and the University elected ASAs in particular for improvement in governance of Universities.
Universities faced a lot of financial problems due to budget cuts in budget 2019-20 and many universities were unable to pay timely salaries to faculty and staff. The FAPUASA Punjab Chapter understands that there are financial constraints faced by the Federal Government due to Covid-19. However, it strongly demands that budget for Higher Education should be enhanced to a least the demand of last fiscal year i.e. Rs.120 Billion.
FAPUASA also strongly demands that 70% tax rebate should be restored for University faculty members.
FAPUASA Punjab Chapter strongly demands that HEC should adopt the recommendation of the TTS/BPS committee in its upcoming Commission June, 2020 meeting. The service of TTS faculty should be secured and salary should be enhanced substantially. In this regard FAPUASA condemns the penalization of TTS faculty members by HEC for performing additional assignments given by their Universities. FAPUASA requests “one-time dispensation” for faculty given the ambiguous notification for additional assignments made by HEC. In future, clear, and uniform TTS laws may be given to Universities. If a faculty members is to be penalized for performing a pure additional administrative assignment, then they may be ordered to return the benefits drawn for the “additional assignment only” during TTS service and their TTS salary should not be deducted nor service excluded.
Given the increase in COVID-19 cases across Pakistan, FAPUASA Punjab Chapter demands that Universities should not compel faculty members to physically come to universities offices to take online classes or other assignments.
