SHC sets aside notification of JSMU VC’s appointment

The Sindh High Court on Monday set aside a notification of the appointment of Prof Dr Amjad Siraj Memon as vice chancellor of Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU).

It directed the secretary of universities and boards to float a summary of shortlisted candidates recommended by the search committee to the chief minster for fresh interviews and to appoint a new VC in accordance with the law.

The order came during a hearing of applications filed by Prof Dr Lubna Ansari seeking an injunction against the notification of the appointment of Prof Memon as VC, as well as the positing of a new one in accordance with the recent Supreme Court judgment in Dr Iqrar Ahmed Khan’s case within a month.

The plaintiff’s counsel submitted that a lawsuit had been filed against the formation of the statutory search committee for the appointment of the varsity’s VC, and a single bench of the high court had permitted the committee to conduct interviews of shortlisted candidates and had restrained it from finalising the list of the selected candidates.

He said the search committee forwarded a summary for finalisation and violated the interim orders of the court whereby the committee was restrained from taking any steps with regard to the finalisation of candidates or a candidate as the case may be.

He submitted that action of the committee was not only an attempt to disregard the orders of the court but also undermine the authority of the single bench. The counsel contended that the plaintiff was eligible for appointment of the JSMU post being the highest- ranked candidate as opposed to Dr Memon, who was lower in rank but was given preference by the CM in the impugned notification issued on June 22, 2021 without assigning any reasons whatsoever.

The JSMU counsel submitted that the plaintiff approached the court with “unclean hands” and the balance of convenience does not lie in favour of the plaintiff nor will any irreparable harm be caused to her as it is only the university that is suffering as a result of functioning without a regular chief executive.

He submitted that thousands of persons, including students, faculty and other employees and regulatory bodies directly associated with the university, would continue to suffer an irreparable loss as the functioning of the university has been restricted. He requested the court to dismiss the applications, arguing that the specific relief act prohibits the grant of injunctions which interfere with the public duties of any department or institution of the government.

The counsel for Dr Memon submitted that plaintiff tried to mislead the court and came up to the court after she was not selected in the interview. He said the plaintiff did not file any application in the suit against the CM summary as her grievance pertained to action of the universities and board department. He said no relief could be granted to the plaintiff as the notification of the VC was issued after completing all legal formalities.

A single bench, headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, observed that the search committee was created at the expense of the public exchequer, and the exercise was conducted by the same at the public expense by appointing authorities, in this case the CM making appointments based on whims and wishes. It observed that the CM was the competent authority for the appointment of varsity’s VC from amongst the shortlisted candidates but should have recorded justiciable cogent reasons for not appointing a person of the highest merit, which is lacking in the case in hand. The court observed that the manner in which CM acted was squarely against such mandatory requirement of the law which has been held mandatory by the SC in a number of decisions.