Punjab University: LHC takes up appeal against Mujahid Kamran’s appointment

Division bench seeks reply from government in 15 days.

LAHORE:

A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Thursday sought a reply from the Punjab government to an appeal against a single bench’s dismissal of a petition challenging the appointment of Prof Mujahid Kamran as vice chancellor of Punjab University.

In December 2012, the court had dismissed the petition after the government amended the University Act 2012 to raise the age limit for the appointment of a vice chancellor from 60 years to 65 years.  Appellant Chaudhry Nazir Ahmed, through his counsel Aftab Ahmed Bajwa, argued that he had filed the petition before the amendment and the amended act had no retrospective effect.

He argued that the amended act violated the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution and so should be struck down. Prof Kamran’s reappointment also violated a Supreme Court judgement barring the hiring of retired officers. His appointment had deprived several eligible candidates for the post, he said.

Bajwa said that numerous stories of corruption at the Punjab University under Prof Kamran had been reported in the press.

He alleged that the vice chancellor had given jobs at the university to friends and cronies and was involved in serious financial irregularities.

After hearing initial arguments, the court issued notice to the respondents and sought replies in 15 days.



Petition for Bol ban referred to censors

The Lahore High Court has disposed of a petition seeking a ban on the film Bol in Pakistan and the death sentence for its director and cast over alleged anti-Islam remarks.

Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh directed the Film Censor Board to look into the question of whether the movie had any objectionable content and resolve the matter within 10 days.

Petitioner Muhammad Tasleem Qadri, through Advocate Farouk Bismil Rajpoot, had said he had been aggrieved at the behaviour of the actors in the movie and its broadcasting on television.

He said that he had seen the movie “by chance” and it had astonished him. The movie was “beyond the customs, rituals and procedures of an Islamic society as well as against the Sharia and injunctions of Islam”.

The characters in the movie “exchange highly objectionable remarks” and “are defamatory and derogatory [of Islamic scholars]”, he said. Various scholars supported his petition against the movie.

The petitioner had also sought a direction to television channels not to play the movies The Ten Commandments and The Message, which allegedly contained derogatory remarks about the uncle and some companions of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).

The respondents included director Shoaib Manzoor, actors Umaima Abbasi, Atif Aslam, Naeem Kashmiri, Irfan Khosat, Riaz Mahmood, Khayam Sarhadi, Shafqat Cheema and Sarfaraz Ansari, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, a television channel and the Film Censor Board of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2013.