The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government is yet to get rid of the five-member search committee formed by the previous Buzdar government for scrutinising the applications of the candidates who are in the race for the vice chancellor of the Punjab University.

It has been learnt that the tenure of the current vice chancellor (VC) of Punjab University (PU), Prof Dr Niaz Ahmed, is going to end on June 6 next, and, at least 50 candidates have submitted applications for their appointment against the post of PU VC.

It is also reported that University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Vice Chancellor Dr Mansoor Sarwar, Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) Vice Chancellor Dr Zia Ul-Qayyum, Dr Zakria Zakir and Dr Shahid Munir are strong candidates for the post of PU VC.

A meeting of the PU’s search committee is likely to be convened within next 10 days for the scrutiny of the applications, but, this committee is reportedly headed by Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Mahmood Bukhari.

The appointment of Mr Bukhari as the head of the search committee is questionable, for he is not only the serving rector of National University of Science and Technology (NUST) but also a non-PhD member of the committee.

Moreover, he is reportedly a personal friend of PU VC Dr Niaz Ahmed. It has also been learnt that the committee has only one PhD member.

Other members of the committee are Prof Dr Akmal Hussain, former bureaucrat Syed Tahir Shehbaz, the chairman of High Education Commission, and the secretary education.

The academic circles have demanded that the new PML-N government in Punjab must set up a new committee for scrutinising the applications of the candidates and holding their interviews to finalise the name for PU VC.