PTI student wing challenges HEC director’s removal in IHC

Petition filed in Islamabad High Court says only 18-member HEC commission can appoint an executive director.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) student wing, Insaf Students Federation (ISF), has challenged the ‘direct intervention’ of the establishment division in appointing a new executive director of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The ISF filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday maintaining that the HEC is an autonomous body and the establishment division cannot appoint an Executive Director (ED).

The petition made federal government, incumbent HEC chairman and executive director, and former chairman Dr Attaur Rehman respondents in the case.

The petition maintained that the HEC was established under the Higher Education Commission Ordinance 2002 and as per law, only an 18-member commission of the HEC could be the appointing authority of an Executive Director.

The petition filed by ISF Central President Farrukh Habib and Chaudhry Arsalan prayed the court to suspend the appointment of the new Executive Director.

Habib stated that it was not a matter of any individual but revolved around the autonomy of an institution which is playing a vital role for a prosperous Pakistan.

The petition was filed through Advocate Farukkh Dall.

The Supreme Court is already hearing a petition on the appointment of a new HEC ED by the establishment division.

The establishment division had appointed the secretary of the ministry of education and training, Major (retd) Qamaruz Zaman, as the new ED on November 29 and terminated the contract of Dr Sohail Naqvi, who had held the position for the past nine years. For Dr Rehman, this appointment was “not only a violation of the law but also a direct contempt of the Supreme Court of Pakistan”.

He said that the HEC Act not only empowers the Commission to appoint its own ED but the Supreme Court of Pakistan had also passed a ruling in April last year that granted constitutional protection to the HEC as an independent regulatory authority.