LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice
Shahid Kareem declare as illegal the appointment of acting vic
e chancellor Punjab U
niversity Dr Mujahid Kamran a
nd other three public sector u
niversities
including Punjab U
niversity, Lahore College for Women U
niversity, U
niversity of Sargodha and Nawaz Sharif U
niversity of Engineering and Technology Multan.
The Justice sets aside the process of appointment of the vic
e chancellors at U
niversity of the Punjab (PU), Lahore College for Women U
niversity (LCWU), U
niversity of Sargodha, and Nawaz Sharif U
niversity of Engineering and Technology ab initio.
He announced the judgment in the case Dr Aurangzeb Alamgir vs. Government of the Punjab, etc. Prof. Dr Aurangzeb Alamgir, Samee Uzair, Dr Shahbaz Cheema, and Prof Wasif Khan were the petitioners in the case. An eminent lawyer, Saad Rasool, pleaded the case for the petitioners.
The court also ordered the federal Higher Education Commission (HEC) to devise the criteria for the appointment of VCs within 30 days. The court further ordered that the Punjab HED notify separate Search Committees for each of the four u
niversities and carry out the appointment process afresh.
Finally, the court ordered the Punjab government to remove Mujahid Kamran of Punjab U
niversity and the look-after VCs at the other three u
niversities within seven days of the order, and appoint the senior most professors as the acting vic
e chancellors instead.
The decision was given after almost one year since the filing of the case. The court gave patient hearing to all parties involved in the case, particularly to the lawyers of the HEC, HED, and PU who used various delaying tactics throughout. The detailed judgment is expected within a few days.
In a post-judgment interview, Saad Rasool said that Mujahid Kamran had been running the Punjab U
niversity as a one-man show for the last nine years. He further said that because of the judgment, a new regular vic
e chancellor will be appointed in accordance with law at each of the four u
niversities.
The PU teachers, students, and staff greatly appreciated the fair, comprehensive, and timely judgment of the court. They celebrated the removal of Mujahid Kamran by distributing sweets with the hope that, unlike Kamran, the new vic
e chancellor appointed through a just process would run the u
niversity in an orderly and lawful manner.
Judge held that there was no provision of law for appointment of the acting vic
e chancellors and the provincial government had no authority to appoint the acting vic
e chancellors as it was exclusive right of the HEC to appoint a vic
e chancellor.
The LHC ordered this verdict on Thursday while accepting a petition moved by Dr Asmatullah of Zoology department at Punjab U
niversity a
nd others had challenged the process of the acting vic
e chancellors appointments. He prayed to direct government to appoint the VCs in accordance with the law and observe merit.