An unusual and increasingly controversial situation has emerged at the Higher Education Commission (HEC), which has been functioning without a regularly appointed chairman for the past five months, even as other appointments to the commission continue at a steady pace.
The post of chairman has remained vacant for nearly five months, while the second 90-day tenure of the federal education secretary as acting head is also set to expire in about 20 days. This marks the first time in the HEC’s 23-year history that the country’s apex higher education regulator has been operating for such an extended period without a regular chairman.
Sources say that the summary for the appointment of a chairman has been lying with the Prime Minister’s House for over a month. The search committee has already forwarded three names -- Dr Sarosh Hashmat Lodi, Dr Mohammad Ali Shah and Dr Niaz Ahmed -- from among whom one is to be selected as chairman. Yet, despite the apparent completion of the procedural requirements, the appointment remains inexplicably stalled.
What has drawn sharper criticism, however, is that while the commission awaits a chairman, appointments of HEC members are proceeding without interruption. Recently, former HEC executive director Dr Sohail Naqvi and former vice chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Dr Syed Zahoor Hasan, were appointed as commission members for four-year tenure.
During these five months, Federal Education Secretary Nadeem Mahboob has not only overseen the routine affairs of the HEC but has also proceeded with the appointment of the executive director, made postings to key positions, approved promotions and ordered transfers , actions which, under the HEC framework, fall squarely within the authority of a regular chairman.
Education experts and former officials view this situation as institutionally troubling. They argue that delaying the appointment of a chairman while exercising powers reserved for that office undermines governance norms and raises serious questions about transparency and administrative propriety. Critics warn that prolonged leadership vacuum at the top, coupled with ad hoc decision making, risks weakening the credibility and autonomy of an institution central to Pakistan’s higher education system.
As the file continues to gather dust and the clock ticks on the acting arrangement, observers say the federal government’s indecision is sending an unsettling message to universities and academics alike that the country’s higher education regulator can be left leaderless, even as critical decisions are taken without a duly appointed head.
