KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has suspended implementation on an Election Commission of Pakistan’s letter through which it rejected the caretaker chief minister’s decision to extend the tenure of Dr S. Akbar Zaidi as the executive director of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi.

Plaintiff Syed Nadeem Hussain filed a suit before the SHC, challenging the ECP decision to reject the Sindh government’s request regarding fresh tenure of Dr Zaidi.

Caretaker CM retired Justice Maqbool Baqar had approved a summary sent by the boards and universities department regarding four-year extension in the tenure of Dr Zaidi, who is set to complete his first term on Jan 12, 2024.

On Nov 21, the deputy secretary of the services, general administration & coordination department had sent a letter to the ECP for its approval. However, the ECP through a letter dated Dec 5 declined to extend the tenure of the incumbent IBA chief.

SHC issues notices to chief secretary, Dr Akbar Zaidi and ECP for Jan 30

Impugning the ECP’s Dec 5 letter, plaintiff’s lawyer Ahmed Masood questioned the interference of the election commission in the subject matter and argued that Dr Zaidi was already serving as the executive director of the IBA since the approval of the caretaker chief minister on Nov 13.

He submitted that the Higher Education Commission had on Sept 8 made a correspondence with the ECP and the latter assured that its ban imposed on Aug 15 was not applicable to the confirmation of Dr Zaidi.

He argued that despite the assurance the letter of the Sindh government was rejected without assigning any reason.

The counsel feared that the IBA would suffer and its functioning would be affected if the executive director was not available.

After a preliminary hearing, Justice Mahmood A. Khan issued notices to the ECP, Sindh chief secretary, IBA and Dr Zaidi for Jan 30.

The bench also put federal and provincial law officers on notice for the next date.

“Be that as it may, let notice be issued to the defendants as well as DAG and AAG for 30.01.2024 and till the said date, impugned letter dated 05.12.2023 issued by defendant No.4 [ECP] dealing permission by re-confirmation on continuation of service of defendant No.3 [Dr Zaidi] stands suspended,” the bench ordered.

It may be recalled here that the Sindh boards and universities department had sent a summary to the caretaker CM and informed him that the four-year tenure of Dr Zaidi was going to complete on Jan 12, 2024. Two suggestions had been given to the caretaker CM that either the tenure of Dr Zaidi be extended by four years or advertise the vacancy of the executive director. However, the CM opted for the first suggestion.

Dr Zaidi, a renowned political economist with an experience of almost four decades of teaching and research in Pakistan and abroad, has been the IBA’s executive director since January 2020.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2023