PESHAWAR: Peshawar High court on Monday extended a stay order restraining the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government from issuing notification of the appointment of Khyber Medical University vice-chancellor till Aug 6 also directing it to submit a comprehensive report in a petition challenging the selection process.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Inamullah Khan directed the additional advocate general, Asad Jan Durrani, to submit the report positively in 10 days.

The bench fixed Aug 6 for next hearing of the petition that requested it to declare the appointment process of vice-chancellor of KMU as illegal and in violation of the Constitution of Pakistan and Universities Act, 2012.

The petition has been filed by senior professors Dr Azizul Hassan Aamir and Dr Mohammad Ayaz Khan, who claimed that they were shortlisted candidates for the post of KMU vice-chancellor. They claimed that the appointment process was based on unstructured quantification criteria.

The petitioners sought declaration of the court that evaluation and selection of the candidates solely on the basis of interview and discarding objective assessment of candidates as required under Schedule II of Universities Act was illegal and unlawful.

They also sought interim relief, seeking directives of the court for the government to suspend the process of appointment till final decision on the petition.

Senior lawyer Amir Javed appeared for the petitioners whereas AAG Durrani appeared along with several officials including a deputy secretary of higher education department, Mukarram Khan, its law officer Naeem Ahmad Kundi and a member of academic search committee Mohammad Farooq.

AAG Durrani contended that he wanted to file a comprehensive reply on behalf of the respondents including the government for which he might be allowed some time. The bench allowed him 10 days time to do so.

Advocate Amir Javed stated that his clients possessed the qualifications, experience and credentials prescribed under KP Universities Act, 2012, for appointment as vice-chancellor of KMU.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2026