SHC restrains panel from finalising names for FUUAST VC

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has restrained the search committee for the appointment of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (Fuuast) vice chancellor (VC) from finalising names of the VC till further orders.

The interim order came on a petition of Mohammad Ziauddin who sought a direction for the search committee to assess his candidature for the VC’s post. The petitioner’s counsel submitted that his client was eligible and qualified for the post of the FUUAST VC; however, his candidature was wrongly declined without calling him for an interview and the committee had discriminated against him by not hearing him as provided under the Article 10-A of the Constitution.

The counsel submitted that the respondents, search committee members, were bound to comply with the Section 24-A of the General Clause Act 1897. He submitted that the search committee members had committed malpractice by finalising their favourite candidates, which defeated the very purpose of the advertisement made for the purpose of the appointment of the VC on September 17, 2019.

The counsel submitted that the acting VC was acting against the law and blue-eyed candidates were being qualified for the position of the VC. He informed the SHC that the petitioner had impugned the entire recruitment process initiated after the publication of the advertisement and requested the court to restrain the respondents from conducting interviews for the post of the FUUAST VC.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Adnanul Karim Memon, after a preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to the search committee, FUUAST and others and called their comments on November 5. The high court, in the meantime, restrained the search committee from finalising names for the VC’s post till further orders.