Second time in a month: SHC suspends governor’s notification of vice-chancellor’s appointment

Bench seeks comments from DUHS chancellor, chief secretary and Dr Shaikh

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) suspended on Friday the second notification of its kind issued in a month by the Sindh governor, who is also the chancellor of public universities in the province, regarding the appointment of Dr Noshad A Shaikh as the vice-chancellor of Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS).

Headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, the division bench also issued notices to the chancellor of DUHS, the provincial chief secretary and Dr Shaikh to file their comments by November 10.

This is the second time that the governor's notification regarding the appointment of Dr Shaikh as vice-chancellor of one of the country's best medical universities has been challenged and subsequently suspended.

This time again, the Pakistan Medical Association and the varsity's senior professor, Dr Muhammad Saeed Quraishy, had challenged the appointment of Dr Shaikh. Their lawyer, Haider Waheed, told the judges that the petitioners had also filed a petition earlier, challenging the appointment of Dr Shaikh as the vice-chancellor of DUHS.

He argued that earlier, the chancellor was the competent authority to appoint the vice-chancellor. But, after the promulgation of the Sindh Universities and Institutes Laws (Amendment), 2014, the vice-chancellor is now appointed by the chancellor on the advice of the chief minister. He pointed out that in the evaluation process made by the search committee, Dr Quraishy's name was on serial No. 1, but in disregard to his credentials, qualification and experience, he was ignored and Dr Shaikh was appointed as the vice-chancellor.

The lawyer recalled that as an interim measure, the SHC's division bench had, while hearing the earlier petition, suspended the notification of Dr Shaikh's appointment on October 8. But, on the very next date, the impugned notification dated October 12 was withdrawn and the petition was disposed of accordingly, he added.

"Now, the learned counsel moved this petition again with the grievance that vide notification dated October 26, the same person has been appointed as the vice-chancellor again, while there is no variation or change in the findings of the search committee," the two judges observed.

Advocate Haider Waheed further argued that 'in fact they (the provincial government authorities) had misled and misguided the court and they had earlier withdrawn the notification, so that the petition may be disposed of'. But after a few days, a similar notification has been issued without any logical reason or rationale, he claimed.

The judges, after hearing the initial arguments, issued notices to the chancellor of DUHS, the provincial chief secretary and the provincial law officer to file their comments by October 26. A notice was also issued to Dr Shaikh for comments.

"Until the next date, the operation of the impugned notification dated October 26 issued for the appointment of respondent No 3 (Dr Noshad A Shaikh) as vice-chancellor of Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, is suspended," ordered the head of the bench, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2015.