PESHAWAR: A student, who was rusticated by the Institute of Management Sciences (IMS), Peshawar, for allegedly posting certain material on social media against the institute, has challenged his expulsion in the Peshawar High Court.

The student, Ateeb Ali, has filed a writ petition in the high court, stating that several students had shared on social media (Facebook) pictures of the IMS cafeteria wherein an insect and hair were shown in some food.

He stated that he was issued a show-cause notice by the IMS management and on June 19, 2017 the concerned inquiry committee imposed on him several penalties, including rustication from the institute, Rs10,000 fine and tendering of a written apology on a stamp paper.

He was rusticated for allegedly posting material against the institute on social media

The inquiry committee claimed that the petitioner had shared baseless material on social media and damaged reputation of the institution.

The petition was filed through advocates Mian Muhibullah Kakakhel and Saifullah Muhib.

The petitioner has requested the high court to declare his rustication as illegal and unconstitutional.

He also prayed the court to direct the Peshawar deputy commissioner to take action against the IMS cafeteria for serving unhygienic food to the students.

Respondents in the petition are: IMS through its director; deputy director (head of inquiry committee) Dr Iftikharul Amin; chief proctor IMS Mian Yasir Hayat; coordinator economics (member inquiry committee) Dr Attaur Rehman; coordinator BBA (member inquiry committee) Dr Fahad Abdullah; coordinator social sciences Mrs Shandana Shoaib; controller examinations IMS Ali Abbas Mirza; manager career development centre Dinar Wali; Peshawar deputy commissioner and Higher Education Commission through its chairman.

The petitioner states that on May 12 an insect was found in food of the cafeteria at the IM Sciences and the students protested against the same on social media.

He claimed that the students had shared the post of one Shahzad Haider Khan, which was re-shared by over 127 students of the institute, including the petitioner.

He claimed that the official page of IM Sciences also shared the same post on which over 208 people/students commented.

The petitioner stated that the IMS administration instead of taking action against the cafeteria staff served show-cause notices to the students, including the petitioner on May 16.

He stated that the deputy director of IMS had alleged that the petitioner had posted defamatory remarks on Facebook against the institute and had also provoked the students.

He stated that he replied to the notice on May 22 and informed the deputy director that he had not posted anything on Facebook against the institute.

He added that he had submitted his reply to the final show-cause notice on June 5 through which he clarified that he had not done anything that could defame the institute.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2017