Meeting on HEC budget, salary issues to be held today

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* Commission allocated Rs 15.7 billion, so far only Rs 1.5 billion released

By Mahtab Bashir

ISLAMABAD: A meeting will be held today to overcome the deadlock between the Higher Education Commission (HEC) with the public sector universities and the Planning Commission (PC), regarding a higher education budget cut, the non-implementation of a 50 percent raise in the salaries of university employees and HEC foreign scholars and other projects.

According to HEC sources, various issues would be discussed in the meeting by a six-member committee, constituted by Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani on Saturday (Sept 18), comprising PC Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeemul Haq, Education Secretary Imtiaz Qazi, HEC Chairman Dr Javed Leghari, and vice chancellors from three public sector universities Dr Saeeda Asadullah from the Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU), Dr Pirzada Qasim from the Karachi University (KU) and Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gilani from the University of Engineering and Technology (UET).

The HEC was allocated Rs 15.7 billion in the 2010-11 budget as compared to Rs 22.5 billion last year. So far, only Rs 1.5 billion had been released to the HEC. In view of the financial crunch following the devastating floods, the government had decided to cut the development funds by 70 percent, which ultimately created a financial setback for the HEC and public sector universities to continue their ongoing projects, including foreign scholars and their study abroad.

Earlier, the vice chancellors of 72 public sector universities had threatened to resign and close down their respective universities by September 20, if the government goes ahead with the proposed cuts. They also protested against blocking the 50 percent pay raise for university employees.

Gilani had taken notice of the situation and directed Federal Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh to address the issue with a six-member committee today.

HEC Media Director Ayesha Ikram expressed hope that the budget issue would be resolved, as the PM had shown his commitment by forming a committee to deal with the matter.