VCs’ Appointment: Judge refuses to hear case over ‘conflict’

Appointment of vice chancellors to six public universities was deferred on Monday by a division bench of the LHC

LAHORE:

Hearing of several intra court appeals (ICAs) against dismissal of petitions by a single bench about the appointment of vice chancellors to six public universities was deferred on Monday by a division bench of the Lahore High Court without any progress as one of the judges on the bench refused to hear the appeals. Justice Ijazul Ahsan said that he was a member of the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) syndicate and could therefore not hear the case.

Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, heading the bench, then referred the appeals to the LHC chief justice for fixing before an appropriate bench.

Previously the appeals were heard by a division bench headed by Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry. Due to the unavailability of the CJ this week, the registrar had fixed the appeals before Justice Shah and Justice Ahsan.  A single bench comprising Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh had on June 24, dismissed the petitions and declared the search committee lawful. The petitioners have requested the court to set aside the judgment.





Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2011.