Appointment matters: PU Syndicate reopens law professor’s case

Six members vote for re-considering appointment case .

LAHORE: The Punjab University Syndicate on Friday decided to re-consider Dr Shazia Naureen Qureshi’s appointment as a professor with the Faculty of Law, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The appointment was endorsed by the Syndicate in its meeting on August 8, 2014. During the 1,711th meeting on Friday, the Syndicate voted to re-open the case rather than approve it.

Six of the 10 members voted for the re-opening of the case after a discussion that lasted for several hours, a PU Syndicate member told The Express Tribune.

He said Dr Qureshi’s case was endorsed during the last meeting without regard to the quorum requirement for such decisions. Objections have been raised against her appointment by the some members of the Faculty of Law, he said.

Dr Qureshi was made dean of the Faculty of Law and principal of the Law College following the August 2014 decision. The member said this was in violation of rules because the appointment required approval by the Syndicate.

PU Legal Adviser Malik Awais said the Syndicate decision did not amount to re-consideration of the appointment decision. “The case is pending a decision for another two weeks,” he said.

The PU spokesman said some of the members who voted for re-opening of the case on Friday had earlier endorsed the selection board proceedings in which the appointment decision was taken. “Javed Sami had himself endorsed the proceedings of Selection Board at the last meeting of Syndicate,” he said.

Javed Sami dismissed the charge saying the record of the board proceedings had not been presented at the previous meeting. “We were not aware of the irregularities at that time,” he said. He said some discrepancies were found in the decision when the record was made available to the Syndicate.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2015.