Illegal appointments case: LHC directs UET syndicate to consider probe report

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday directed the syndicate of University of Engineering and Technology (UET) to consider the recommendations of the Higher Education Department enquiry report to decide the fate of appointments of University of Engineering and Technology registrar Muhammad Asif and controller examination Zigham Nusrat.

Advocate Sheraz Zaka appeared on behalf of the petitioner and argued that both appointments had been made in violation of the service rules and regulations. He submitted that according to the service rules, it required 13 years of experience which the registrar as well as the controller examination lacked, adding that illegal appointments led to bad governance. He requested the court to remove both registrar and controller examination.

A Punjab law officer furnished an enquiry report of Higher Education Department which also stated that illegal appointments had been made and the vice-chancellor should be directed to remove the registrar as well as the controller examination. Advocate Hafiz Tariq Nasim appeared on behalf of the respondents and argued that the petition was not competent and should be dismissed as it had been filed with mala fide. After hearing both parties, the court disposed of the identical petitions, directing the syndicate to consider the HED report and make a decision regarding the fate of registrar Muhammad Asif and controller examination Zaigham Nusrat within 30 days. The court also directed that both the registrar and controller examination would not become the part of the syndicate meeting. It was further directed that the Punjab higher education secretary would sit in the syndicate meeting to ensure good governance in the institution.