National College of Arts: Final arguments on principal plea on 29th

Petitioner wants PM’s office to notify appointment of permanent principal.

LAHORE: Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday summoned the counsel for both parties for October 29 to give their final arguments on a petition against the non-appointment of a principal at the National College of Arts (NCA).

The petitioner, Prof Zafar Iqbal, submitted that the seat of principal had been vacant since July 2010. He said since the retirement of Nazish Attaullah, the college had had three acting principals  Fauzia Qureshi, Bashir Ahmed and Sajjad Kausar (who is still in the office).

He said the college was suffering due to the lack of a permanent principal. He said that the prime minister, as chairman of NCA, was the appointing authority.

He said the Ministry of Education had invited applications for the post in July 2010 and several candidates were interviewed. They were later all told that they were not suitable. The post was advertised again in January 2011, with the proviso that those who had been rejected in 2010 should not apply again.

One of these candidates then filed a petition in the LHC and the court issued notice to the respondents.

However, the post was re-advertised in June 2011 by the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, after the 18th Amendment to the Constitution made it the controlling authority for the college. Under the NCA Ordinance of 1985, the Ministry of Education had been the controlling authority.

Candidates again applied for the post and four were interviewed on August 18, 2011. They were later again called for an interview by the prime minister on September 18, 2011 at Prime Minister’s House. Over a year later, the prime minister’s office is yet to notify the appointment of a principal.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2012.