VCs appointment case: PHC declares KP govt’s decision to start process afresh illegal

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday declared null and void the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s decision to start a fresh process of selecting the vice-chancellors of the 19 public sector universities.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Ejaz Anwar and Justice Ijaz Khan Sabi declared null and void the decision of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government after admitting the petitions filed for the purpose.

Advocates Aamir Javed, Mubashir Manzoor, Tariq Afridi and Saifullah Mohib Kakakhel appeared for the petitioners.Advocate General Shah Faisal Utmankhel and Deputy Attorney General Sanaullah represented the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

The petitioners, including Dr Aurangzeb Khan, contended that the VCs’ positions in several public universities had been lying vacant for the last over one year.They said that the previous provincial government had launched the process to fill out the posts and the caretaker government had completed the task. But the incumbent KP government had re-launched the process that forced them to turn to the PHC, they added.

The petitioners contended that the process for the VCs nomination had already been over but the provincial government wanted to carry out the exercise a fresh and had advertised the posts again.

They said the provincial cabinet had okayed a suggestion to constitute the new search committee for the purpose, not re-advertising the positions.The counsels for the petitioners said that the fresh process would take more time while the posts had been lying vacant for over one year, thus the varsities would continue to function without VCs.

The advocate general told the court the government had not obtained permission from the Election Commission for the nomination of the members of the Academic Search Committee.He said the committee was not complete as five out of seven members of the committee had resigned and thus could not carry out the process.

Justice Ijaz Anwar said told the advocate general that the KP chief secretary had said that the process had been done correctly during the caretaker government.