LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday suspended a single bench’s verdict that struck down the induction of acting vice chancellors (VCs) of four universities.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Faisal Zaman Khan, also issued notices to the attorney general of Pakistan and other parties involved in the case for January 12, 2017.
The bench appointed, from a list furnished by the government, nominees to hold the posts of provisional VCs as interim measure at the four universities.
The court selected Dr Zafar Moeen Nasar for Punjab University (PU), Dr Uzma Qureshi for Lahore College for Women University (LCWU), Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad for University of Sargodha (UoS )and Dr Muhammad Zubair for Nawaz Sharif University of Engineering and Technology (NSUET), Multan.
The bench was hearing an inter-court appeal filed on behalf of the Punjab government challenging the removal of the VCs.
Punjab Additional Advocate General Shan Gul said the appointments were made under Section 14 of the Public Sector Universities Amended Act. He said the VC office was purely an administrative post. He said further there was no legal bar to consult the Higher Education Commission (HEC) before these appointments. He submitted that these appointments were made in the light of the Supreme Court’s (SC) verdict and guidelines given by the HEC. He requested to set aside the single bench order. He also requested that the operation of the single bench’s order should be suspended until the decision of this appeal.
On December 1, a single bench comprising Justice Shahid Karim on declared the appointments of PU VC Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran, LCWU Prof Dr Uzma Qureshi, UoS VC Prof Dr Nazra Sultana and (NSUET) VC Prof Dr Fazal Ahmad Khalid as illegal.
