Bahauddin Zakariya University: High Court sacks seven lecturers

The court holds that the appointments were made illegally.

MULTAN: In a new development at Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) the appointment of seven university lecturers has been overturned by the Lahore High Court (LHC) Multan bench.

According to the prosecution, seven lecturers were appointed by the BZU Vice Chancellor (VC) Muhammad Zafarullah last year before the advertisement for the posts was released in the newspaper. “All seven posts were filled even before we saw the ad for the vacancies. Several people applied only to discover that the post had been filled before hand,” said petitioner Nadeem Ahmed.

Ahmed said that he had been working at the university’s English department for over five years and had wanted to apply for the post for Assistant professor but two posts in the department were already filled by Mustaneer Afzal Lodhi and Sanobrah Rizwan. “Both of these men are not qualified for the job and neither holds a relevant degree. They were hired because they were connected,” Ahmed said.

The prosecution also said that the seven appointments were also illegal because the chief minister was not consulted during the hiring process. “The VC hired these men because the Governor approved them. They are not qualified for their posts,” said lawyer Kashif Zayed Khan.

On Sunday, the LHC Multan bench summoned Mustaneer Afzal Lofhi and Sanobrah Rizwan to court. The VC was also summoned to the court but did not make an appearance. The LHC bench has asked the VC to provide a justification for the appointments. The court upheld that a total of seven appointments had been made illegally and charged the recruitment department with nepotism in this regard.

The department has suspended the teachers and frozen all of their payments. The mentioned lecturers have been asked to appear before the court in January along with the BZU Vice Chancellor. The prosecution pleaded that the appointment of Lodhi had been made on the recommendation of a BZU registrar Sohaib Rashid, who was his cousin.

“They didn’t even give anyone a chance. I realise that we can hardly control nepotism playing a part in the appointment of candidates after their interviews but here there was no interview or chance to get the post,” Ahmed said. “The university filled the posts even before they advertised for them. That meant no one stood a chance. It is criminal,” said a lecturer at the Psychology department.

Teachers at the university camped outside of the court to hear the decision regarding the illegal appointments and said that they were pleased with the courts verdict. “At least now we know that this won’t happen in the future. The reputation of the entire university is suffering because of such dealings,” Ahmed told reporters outside the court on Sunday.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2010.