VCs’ appointment: Court allows petitioner to make governor party

Petitioner says governor reconstituted search committee in 2009.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Thursday allowed an application requesting to implead the Punjab governor as party in several petitions challenging the process for appointment of vice chancellors for six universities and the composition of the search-committee.

The application was filed by Dr Bushra Khan and Dr Hassan Amir Shah, two of the petitioners in the case. Their counsel submitted that after the perusal of the report and comments filed by the respondent authorities, it was found that the governor had reconstituted the search committee in 2009.

They said that the notification in this regard should be placed on record and a report should be sought from the governor.

The court allowed the application and adjourned hearing for Friday (today) as an additional advocate general representing the government was not available.

The court will also take up another application by the two petitioners wherein they requested to implead 18 candidates whose names had been recommended by the search committee.

Three candidates for each of the six public sector universities were recommended.

In their petitions the professors had submitted that after they had applied for job the search committee had changed the criteria and preference was given to foreign qualified candidates. They challenged the selection process and said that the committee lacked a credible mechanism and asked the court to set it aside.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 10th, 2011.