MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 26: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court, here on Monday, declared the appointment of Chaudhry Naib Hussain as Vice Chancellor (VC) of Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST) as null and void, for having been made in violation of the law governing the affairs of the institution.

The controversial appointment made by former AJK President Raja Zulqarnain Khan, in complete oversight of sections 10-11 of the MUST Ordinance, 2008, was challenged by engineering faculty’s Prof Dr Riaz Mughal, 16 months ago.

The case was heard by a full bench, comprising Chief Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal, Justice Munir Ahmed Chaudhry and Justice M Tabassum Aftab Alvi.

The bench held that the person to be appointed as VC was required to have earned a PhD degree, besides being an eminent researcher with publications in foreign journals but contrary to that Mr Hussain simply held an MSc degree and had failed to produce any of his publications in foreign journals in his defence.

It also pointed out that as chancellor of MUST, former president had exercised his powers by appointing Prof Dr Habibur Rehman as VC for the transitory period.

A permanent appointment should have been made through the Search Committee and the Senate of MUST but that was not done in this case.

Since no such proceedings and material had been placed on the record, the court was compelled to declare the appointment as null and void, the bench held.