Contempt petition: UHS VC told to comply with court order in 10 days

The petitioner had asked about the quality of teaching, research at the university

LAHORE: Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi of Lahore High Court on Wednesday gave the University of Health Science vice chancellor final chance to comply with a court order within 10 days or face contempt proceedings.

The judge issued the order on an application moved by Qaisar Rasheed, who had asked the court to direct the VC to address his concerns about teaching and research quality at the university.

Justice Qureshi, in his order, said that despite clear directions, the VC had not complied with the order issued on May 11.

The judge told the VC to address the petitioner’s concerns within 10 days or face contempt proceedings.

In letters addressed to UHS VC Muhammad Aslam, the petitioner had raised concerns about the quality of research and teaching at the university.

The petitioner said that he was a doctor and had obtained a Master of Sciences (MSc) degree in molecular biology from the University of Westminster in 2002.

He said that of the three candidates who had taken the entry test for UHS’s PhD programme in immunology, he was the only candidate who had secured more than 70 per cent marks in the immunology section.

He said the other two candidates, who had completed their Masters of Philosophy (MPhil) degrees from the UHS, did not pass the exam.

“This made me worry about quality of teaching and research at the UHS. I wrote a letter to the vice chancellor because I wanted an explanation,” the petitioner said.

The petitioner said he feared that if the MPhil degree holders from the UHS could not pass the entry test for the university’s PhD degree programme, teaching and research quality at the university may not be good.

“I asked the VC to comment on this concern so that I could decide whether I wanted to pursue PhD at the university,” he said.

The petitioner said it appeared that an MSc degree obtained from an average university in the UK was better that an MPhil degree obtained from the UHS.

The petitioner said he had asked the VC why quality of research had not improved.

“The UHS was established 10 years ago. Why have teaching standards not improved?” he said.

The petitioner told the court that he also had concerns about the competence of the VC.

He said the VC had a PhD degree from a UK university and 35 years of teaching experience.

“Yet he has not published anything on physiology. One of the research articles authored by the VC is an exact copy of an article published by a scholar abroad,” he said. He requested the court to direct the VC to respond to his letters.

He also sought orders for suspension of operations at the university till the VC satisfied the court about the concerns raised by him.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2016.