Four vice chancellors told to join case

Division bench tells lawyers to prepare final arguments for October 10.

LAHORE:

A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the vice chancellors of four public universities and asked them to join proceedings in a case challenging their appointments.

The bench issued this order on appeals against a single bench’s dismissal of petitions questioning the selection procedure for vice chancellors at six universities. The bench then adjourned till October 10, with the observation that they would hear final arguments on that day.

On Wednesday, Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar, representing the governor/chancellor, told the court that the Supreme Court had reserved judgment on a petition by a Bahauddin Zakariya University professor concerning the appointments and the High Court should await the apex court’s verdict.

Advocate Anwar Kamal, counsel for petitioner Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah, said that the petition concerned 89 people who had been shortlisted by the search committee and all of them should be made party to the case. The court said there was no need for this.

Kamal said the appointment of the vice chancellors of Government College University Lahore and Bahauddin Zakariya University were already in question before the court and the other four should also be made parties in the case. The court agreed and directed the Punjab advocate general to tell the four vice chancellors to join the next hearing.

Dr Yousaf Hayat, Dr Shaukat Ali and Dr Maqbool Hussain Sial moved the appeals against the LHC verdict of June 24, which said that there was no evidence of irregularities in the appointments. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2011.