Governor defies CM to appoint aide as DUHS VC

Karachi
Against the Sindh chief minister’s advice and despite the reservations of the Pakistan Medical Association and other bodies of the healthcare fraternity, the governor has appointed his former aide as the vice chancellor of the Dow University of Health Sciences.
Prof Dr Noshad A Shaikh, who has remained Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan’s principal secretary, was notified as the new vice chancellor on Saturday.
The Governor’s House issued a back-dated notice with the signature of the incumbent principal secretary, Muhammad Hussain Syed, for this purpose.
A search committee formed by the Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah had shortlisted the names of Civil Hospital Karachi medical superintendent Dr Saeed Qureshi and a senior neurologist Dr Junaid Ashraf for the post of the DUHS vice chancellor.
Sources in the Chief Minister’s House said Dr Saeed Qureshi’s name had been forwarded to the governor for notifying him as the new vice chancellor.
But the governor went against the chief minister’s binding advice.
This is for the second time in two weeks that the governor has acted against chief minister’s advice. A few days ago, he had replaced University of Karachi vice chancellor Dr Umer Farooq with Dr Muhammad Qaiser to run the varsity in an interim position.
Several healthcare fraternity bodies had predicted that the governor would appoint one of his confidantes as the DUHS vice chancellor against the recommendations of the search committee and the chief minister’s summary so that he would not lose control of the university
Dr Shaikh was serving as vice chancellor of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro.
He has also previously held the post of the Sindh health secretary.
The notification issued by the Governor’s House, dated October 2, 2015, read, “[The] Governor Sindh in exercise of powers vested in him under section 12(1) of [the] Dow University of Health Sciences, Act 2004 as amended by the Sindh Universities Law (Amendment) Act 2013, has appointed Prof Dr Noshad A Shaikh as the Vice Chancellor of the DUHS for a period of four years.”
A couple of days ago, the Pakistan Medical Association had warned that the governor would appoint Dr Shaikh as the DUHS vice chancellor in violation of all rules. It had also alleged that the governor was taking every step possible to “destroy” medical education in the province, especially his own alma mater the DUHS.
Legal experts said after recent amendments in the provincial law in connection with the appointment of vice chancellors, the governor’s powers had been reduced to only a notifying authority and was bound to act on the advice of the chief minister.