USPSA, Staff Association and Union say Council is well within its rights and has determined that the VC will be located at the Samoa Campus

The University of the South Pacific Students Association, the USP Staff Union and the Association of the USP Staff say, Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum used Parliamentary privilege to publicly disagree with the majority decision of the USP Council to offer a new contract to Professor Pal Ahluwalia by deeming it an illegal action.

In a statement they say it should be noted that Fiji which has the highest number of representatives on the Council was given ample opportunity by the Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Council to share its views under the democratic process of the Council.

They further say that under the same process the Council voted on the offer of a new contract to Professor Ahluwalia adding that in essence the Fiji members of the Council failed to convince other members of the Council regarding their views on the issues under discussion and now calling the decision illegal and questioning others that are within the purview of the august body.

The statement also says the USP Council is well within its rights and has determined that the Vice-Chancellor will be located at the Samoa Campus and this was voted for by a clear majority.

They add that no individual country or person has the authority to appoint or remove the Vice-Chancellor and the President of USP.

It says since the Council did not remove the Vice-Chancellor, the Council took legal advice on the matter and in compliance via Committee recommendation discussed the issue and proceeded to vote on the six components, inclusive of proposed variations.

They say the outcome of the voting was a clear majority for all components.

They further say it is very apparent from the Fiji delegation’s responses to Council decisions that anything that is not in their favour is either deemed illegal or resulting in additional fabricated issues to instigate new investigations to hold up progress, despite the repeated fabrications having been cleared against Professor Alhuwalia.

They also say that Sayed-Khaiyum again labored the point that Fiji is the highest contributor to the USP but by failing to inform the people that Fiji is also the biggest beneficiary.

It adds that it is common knowledge and confirmed by the Executive Director Finance through the University Grants Committee that for every $1 Fiji contributes to the USP it gets $9 in return.

Meanwhile, Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum had said in Parliament that the appointment of Professor Pal Ahluwalia as University of the South Pacific’s Vice-Chancellor is illegal.

The Council of the University of the South Pacific resolved a few days ago to offer a new contract to Professor Ahluwalia as the Vice-Chancellor and President of the USP and that he will work from Samoa. Sayed-Khaiyum said the Charter of the USP regulations is specific which says that when a person’s contract is terminated because of the cancellation of the work permit, the contract automatically gets terminated.

He said there is a particular process through which the Vice-Chancellor is appointed which is to advertise, go through a selection panel and then an appointment is made.

He added Professor Ahluwalia could have been re-appointed if the USP Council would have gone through the process and Fiji would not have had any objections.

Sayed-Khaiyum also told parliament they have discovered that even though the USP Council had agreed that Professor Ahluwalia’s contract had been terminated, they continued to pay him.

He says Fiji is the largest contributor to USP which is in excess of $30 million and the next highest contributor is $2 million.