Writ petition: K-P govt restrained from taking action against varsity VC

Respondents failed to file comments despite issuance of court order

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday extended a stay order restraining the provincial government from taking action against the Abdul Wali Khan University vice chancellor. It also issued a notice to the Higher Education Commission to file its reply.

The respondents have not filed their comments despite the issuance of a court order to this effect at the last hearing on August 16.

The bench, headed by Justice Syed Afsar Shah, was hearing a writ petition filed by AWKUM VC Professor Dr Ihsan Ali through his counsel. The petitioner’s counsel told the court that the petitioner was an educationist who was awarded for his services on the national and international levels.

He said the court earlier ordered the respondents to file comments in this case, but they failed to do so. He stated the petitioner was appointed VC of the university by the previous government and was given an extension till 2017 in acknowledgment of his performance. He further said the provincial government was finding excuses and introduced various amendments to related acts to remove him from the post.



He maintained the government, through the university act, reduced the VC’s tenure from four years to three years and passed amendments that empowered the government to remove vice chancellors.

He pointed out before the amendments, the university syndicate would initiate an enquiry if allegations were levelled against a VC. If proven guilty, the VC would be informed of the charges and then removed.

“The amendments introduced were just for removing the petitioner as the provincial government sent a summary to the governor to send him on forced leave,” the petitioner’s counsel said.

He added both summaries were dismissed by the government as there is no law that gives the governor an excuse to send a VC on forced leave without a genuine reason.

He said the provincial government recently introduced another amendment through which the government could send any VC on a three-month forced leave without mentioning any reason. The leave could later be extended. “This whole process is being done to remove Dr Ihsan Ali as six months of his service still remain,” he said. The counsel requested the court to restrain the government from taking any kind of action against him.

The bench, after hearing the arguments, restrained the government from taking any action against him.

 Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2016.