Irregularities: Court seeks comments on inquiry against varsity
The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the Higher Education Commission's chairperson to file comments on the petition filed by the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (Fuuast) against the inquiry ordered by it into alleged irregularities at the varsity.
A division bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, meanwhile, further extended its interim order, suspending the operation of the HEC's notification for the formation of the three-member inquiry committee.
The HEC chief has been told to file the comments by August 18, when the two-judges would examine the same. Fuuast had taken the HEC chief and the members of the investigating committee to court for allegedly interfering into the varsity's affairs.
The varsity's lawyer argued that the notification, dated May 7, regarding the formation of the inquiry body lacked legal grounds, since it had been issued without seeking the consent of the Fuuast chancellor, the President of Pakistan.
According to the varsity's lawyer, two of the university's senators, Syed Nasir Abbas and Seema Naz Siddiqui, had complained to the HEC of alleged irregularities in Fuuast accounts and the commission had ordered an inquiry into the varsity's affairs unlawfully.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 8th, 2014.