LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday struck down the process initiated by Punjab government for the appointment of vice-chancellors at four public sector universities of the province, with a direction to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan to make the appointments on merit.

Justice Shahid Karim issued the direction through a short order, allowing several petitions moved against the process and appointment of acting vice-chancellors at the four varsities.

The judge directed the HEC to appoint the senior most professors as acting vice chancellors at each of the varsity within seven days. The court also ordered the commission to re-advertise the vacancies and complete the appointment process within one month.

Justice Karim observed the law had no provision for the appointment of acting vice-chancellor for an indefinite period.

Orders permanent hiring in four varsities within a month

Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran had been working as acting VC at Punjab University, Prof Dr Uzma Qureshi at Lahore College for Women University, Prof Dr Nazra Sultana at University of Sargodha and Prof Dr Fazal Ahmad Khalid at Nawaz Sharif University of Engineering & Technology, Multan.

Punjab University’s Zoology Department’s Dr Aurangzeb Alamgir and College of Information Technology’s Principal Mansoor Sarwar and others had challenged the selection process and the appointment of acting VCs.

They mainly pleaded that the Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) had no jurisdiction to appoint the VCs of public sector varsities.

The petitions were filed through advocates Saad Rasool and Safdar Shaheen Pirzada.

The petitioners contended that the HED was not the competent authority to advertise the posts, constitute search committee and set the criteria for the VCs’ appointment. They asked the court to declare the advertisement for the VCs’ slots, criteria and search committee formed by the HED as unconstitutional.

In this case, the HEC had told the court that it was not consulted by the province on the appointment process.

Punjab government counsel had argued that the HED was established after devolution of powers under the 18th constitutional amendment. He said the department had lawfully initiated process for the VCs’ appointments.

The advocate general was of the view that the HEC could only furnish recommendations for education’s standards and financial affairs of the varsities. He had contended that the HEC could not issue any guideline on appointment of VCs in the presence of universities’ senate and syndicate.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2016