Appointment of VCs by caretaker govt challenged

Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh sought a reply by May 11 from the Punjab government over a writ petition challenging of appointment of the vice chancellors of 24 public sector universities by the caretaker provincial government.

The petition was filed by a citizen, Altaf Younas, who contended that the caretaker government could not appointment regular VCs of the universities.

The higher education department had set May 5 as the last date for applying for the posts of VC at the 24 universities, including the Punjab University.

A senior official of the Punjab Higher Education Department said scrutiny of the applicants had begun after the last date passed but now the department had halted the process. He said the department was preparing the reply for the court.

The official said a search committee meeting to decide the terms of reference (TORs) and criteria for the interviews of the applicants for then posts of VCs would be delayed.

The highest number of applications had been received for appointment as VC of the PU, which has been without a vice chancellor for the past 11 months.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2023.