PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Wednesday declared as illegal the appointment of Islamia College University vice-chancellor by the provincial government declaring him not qualified for the post.

The bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Mussarat Hilalai set aside a notification issued by higher education department for appointing Dr Habib Ahmad as vice-chancellor of the Islamia College University, one of the major public- sector universities in the province.

The bench accepted a writ petition filed by Prof Yaseen Iqbal, chairman of department of physics, University of Peshawar, who was also candidate for the post of ICU vice-chancellor.

The petitioner appeared in person and stated that merit was violated in the appointment of vice-chancellors of several universities by the search and scrutiny committee, headed by Dr Attaur Rahman.

Sets aside notification of higher education department

He stated that according to Section 39 (2) (a) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities 2016 (Amendment) Act, a vice-chancellor must have a good academic record.

He stated that Dr Habib Ahmad, having two third divisions in his academic record, had been recommended and appointed vice-chancellor of the historical Islamia College University, Peshawar.

He contended that a person with a single third division was ineligible even for the post of lecturer in a university. “If a person is having a MPhil/PhD degree, a single third division can be accepted but according to HEC rules and regulations, there is no room for more than one third divisions,” he added.

The petitioner pointed out that earlier the search committee had recommended two other persons for posts of vice-chancellor of KP University of Engineering and Technology (UET) and University of Technology Nowshera, but as they were not having the requisite qualification, therefore, staffers of UET protested against it. Subsequently, he stated, the search committee realised its mistake and re-advertised the said posts.

Prof Yaseen Iqbal told the court that the appointment of a vice-chancellor in violation of merit meant destruction of the future of hundreds of thousands of students.

He said that were they telling the students that they needed above 90 per cent of marks for admission in first year in Islamia College but they could become a vice-chancellor if they had two third divisions.

The respondents in the petition were Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through its chief secretary, secretary higher education department, secretary of Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Dr Habib Ahmad.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2018