Karachi, Feb 10: Prof Dr Mohammad Qaiser, serving as the vice chancellor of the Federal Urdu University for Arts, Science and Technology, has been appointed vice chancellor of Karachi University, said a statement issued by the Governor's House on Thursday.

The statement added that the name of Dr Qaiser was recommended by the search committee tasked with suggesting names for the post.

There were speculations about Dr Qaiser's appointment since he was invited for a meeting with Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, the chancellor of the public sector universities in the province, a few weeks ago.

The appointment issue had attracted a lot of media attention and was extensively debated as university teachers across Sindh expressed serious reservations over the discretionary powers of the chancellor to choose any person as the head of a university.

One of their major grievances relates to the continued extensions the chancellor has been giving to retired professors.

Although the Karachi University Teachers Society, the representative body of KU teachers, declined to share their views on Dr Qaiser's appointment saying that the matter would be discussed on Friday at a Kuts executive body meeting, the appointment had been taken positively on the campus, sources said.

This is because of Prof Qaiser's "high academic credentials and positive reputation", the sources added. Dr Qaiser will replace Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui who has completed two tenures on the campus.

Dr Qaiser is a member of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Botany . One of his major academic contributions is a research project titled The Flora of Pakistan, which records scientific details of all the indigenous flowering plant species of the country. Dawn.