LAHORE: The Punjab government on Saturday appointed vice chancellors of four public universities.

The Higher Education Department issued notifications of the appointment of vice chancellors of the University of Sahiwal, Emerson University, Multan, University of Sargodha and Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Engineering and Technology, Multan.

Dr Muhammad Kamran has been appointed the VC of MNS UET Multan, Dr Qaiser Abbas at the University of Sargodha, Dr Muhammad Ramzan at the Emerson University Multan and Dr Javaid Akhtar as VC of the University of Sahiwal.

The governor/ chancellor has issued the appointment.

The government had appointed the vice chancellors in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court given on April 22, 2018.

Earlier, in February 2022, the Lahore High Court had restrained the Punjab government from finalising the appointment of vice chancellors (VCs) in three public universities.

Justice Anwaar Hussain issued the stay order on a petition filed by Prof Dr Muhammad Ilyas Tariq, a candidate, who had questioned the appointment process of VCs of the University of Sahiwal, University of Sargodha and Emerson University, Multan. The petitioner’s counsel, Malik Awais Khalid, argued the government had not followed SOPs regarding the appointment to the posts as envisaged in a government’s notification issued in light of a direction by the LHC.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2022