The Sindh High Court’s (SHC) Hyderabad circuit bench on Wednesday suspended the then caretaker chief minister’s notification for the appointment of a dean at the Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Science & Technology (QUEST), Shaheed Benazirabad.
Prof Dr Intesab Hussain Sadhayo had been appointed as dean of QUEST’s Faculty of Computer Systems Engineering by the then interim CM on the last day of his tenure on February 27.
A constitution petition was filed with the SHC Circuit Court Hyderabad by Prof Dr Muhammad Sulleman Memon through his counsel Advocate Ali Nasir Baloch to challenge the appointment of Prof Dr Sadhayo.
Advocate Baloch argued before a division bench comprising Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi and Justice Amjad Ali Sahito that the impugned notification of the said appointment is illegal on two grounds.
Firstly, he pointed out, the caretaker CM was not authorised to make such an appointment because the function of an interim government is to look after the day-to-day affairs of the province and to facilitate the election commission in holding general elections, as envisaged under Article 224(1A) of the constitution as well as Section 230 of the Elections Act, 2017.
He also argued that in the case of Khawaja Muhammad Asif vs Federation of Pakistan and others (2013 SCMR 1205), the Supreme Court had termed any appointments made by the caretaker government as illegal and void.
Secondly, he remarked, Prof Dr Sadhayo being a professor of the electrical engineering faculty is not qualified to be appointed as dean of the computer systems engineering faculty, while the senior-most professor of the same faculty (the petitioner) was ignored.
After hearing the arguments of the counsel, the bench suspended the then interim CM’s notification for the dean’s appointment and issued notices to the respondents for April 25.
It is pertinent to mention here that the summary for the appointment of the dean had been sent by the QUEST vice chancellor in mid-2022, when the elected provincial government was functioning.
According to the QUEST Act, 1996, and its rules, the VC is required to send the names of three senior-most professors of a faculty to the CM, with the recommendation of any one of them to be appointed as dean of that faculty.
The VC’s summary had floated the names of Prof Dr Memon (the petitioner), Prof Dr Pardeep Kumar Harani and Prof Dr Sadhayo, with the recommendation of Dr Sadhayo to be appointed as dean.
The petition also mentions that Dr Sadhayo is a favourite of the VC and holds as many as seven different posts at the university apart from being the dean.
The then CM Syed Murad Ali Shah refrained from passing any order until the tenure of his government ended. It is only then that the caretaker CM approved the summary and appointed Dr Sadhayo as dean, and that too on the last day of his government.
The order of the then interim CM not only ignored the senior-most professor of the faculty but also appointed a professor of the electrical engineering faculty as dean of the computer systems engineering faculty.