BUoMHS VC’s appointment challenged in BHC

Petitioners contend Achakzai under-qualified for the job

QUETTA: The appointment of Dr Naqeebullah Achakzai as vice chancellor of the Bolan University of Medical and Health Sciences (BUoMHS) has been challenged in the Balochistan High Court.

The petitioners, who challenged the appointment, are Medical Superintendent of Helper Hospital Dr Zulfiqar Ali and Bolan Medical University Professor of Ophthalmology Dr Shamsullah.

The petitioners have taken the stance that the appointee did not fulfil the required conditions for the post; therefore, his appointment is illegal.



They informed the court through a petition that the Bolan Medical College was recently upgraded to the level of university and the health secretary had advertised the vacant position of vice chancellor in the newspapers for which the minimum requirement was PhD while “Dr Achakzai only has FCPS degree which is equivalent to MS”.

Despite not meeting the required qualification, the selection board not only interviewed the said candidate but also issued a notification of his appointment to the vice chancellor’s post, said petitioner Dr Zulfiqar, adding that he had acquired PhD degree from Thailand in Public Health whereas Dr Shams had a PhD degree in Ophthalmology and had been teaching in BMC for years.



Both the petitioners contended that despite fulfilling the required qualification criteria, they were not considered for the post whereas a favourite was appointed at a time when the Election Commission of Pakistan had imposed a ban on all appointments.

The petitioners have appealed to the court to declare the vice chancellor’s appointment null and void.

Separately, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has rejected recent appointments of vice chancellors of two universities of Balochistan—the Bolan University of Medical Sciences and Khuzdar Engineering University, demanding the revocation of both appointments.
They have also called upon both the appointees to reject what they called controversial decision of the Balochistan governor and forgo their appointments themselves.

The PTI leadership has told the media that they were in contact with parliamentary parties and could possibly take the matter to the court.