Aitchison College gets new principal

Dr. SM Turab Hussain was appointed the new principal of Aitchison College, ARY News reported on Monday.

The approval of appointing SM Turab Hussain was given in a meeting of the Board of Directors of Aitchison chaired by Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider.

The meeting was attended by Ali Ayaz Sadiq, Mustafa Ramday, Ali Pervez and Khawaja Hassan. The post of the principal was lying vacant after Michael Thompson resigned from his post.

The Aitchison College fee waiver controversy came into the spotlight in March, when Principal Michael Thompson resigned from his post over alleged political interference by Federal Minister Ahad Cheema’s family.

Michael Thompson stepped down from the post accusing the family of Federal Minister Ahad Cheema to force him to waive fees for the holidays.

The Aitchison College Principal maintained that he denied the request for a fee waiver, but the Governor House Secretariat used its authority to issue a notification waiving the fee.

Following Principal Thompson’s resignation, then-Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman said that an audit of the principal’s salary was initiated as he was receiving Rs4 million salary.

In a letter to Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman, Cheema refused to benefit from the policy, however, he said that Aitchison College Principal Michael Thompson had approached him personally regarding the matter.

The minister claimed that he was given several offers to sort out the matter regarding his sons’ fees, however, he declined to receive any “under-table deal.” Further, Cheema in his letter decried disrespect to his family in the whole fiasco.