SHC issues notice to Fuuast on plea against constitution of search panel for VC’s appointment

The Sindh High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (Fuuast) and others on a petition against the constitution of a search committee for the appointment of the vice chancellor of the varsity.

The court observed that the process for the nomination of shortlisted candidates for the position of vice chancellor would be subject to the outcome of the court order if the nomination of the shortlisted candidates for the position of Fuuast’s VC had not been finalised by the competent authority.

The observation came on a petition of Prof Mohammad Zahid, who called in question the shortlisting of candidates by the search committee, for the position of the vice-chancellor vide minutes of meetings on May 25, 2021 for recommending to the competent authority to make final orders.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the petitioner had earlier assailed the constitution of the search committee and the high court had directed the committee to conduct the selection process de-novo fairly and transparently. He said the committee ignored the guidelines as set forth by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the directives issued by the SHC as well as the ratio of the order issued by the Supreme Court.

The counsel pointed out that the committee had not discharged its functions in accordance with the mandate and the law and action of the committee had no sanctity under the law to sustain. He submitted that there was an element of non- transparency in the selection process with no objective evaluation criteria for the shortlisted candidates, and it was the personal feelings of the committee to forward the names of shortlisted candidates to the competent authority for the final decision. He said the search committee had not conducted the search impartially and reasonably within the parameters of law.

The counsel said the search committee failed and neglected to award marks to the petitioner as per his qualification as directed by the court, which was a sheer violation of the petitioner’s constitutional rights as enshrined in articles, 4, 9, 18, 25 and 10A of the constitution.

He pointed out that even the shortlisted three candidates are ineligible to be nominated for the said position, thus the entire process undertaken by the search committee is dubious one, illegal and without lawful justification.

The court was requested to issue a direction to the competent authority of the respondent-university to reconstitute the search committee to carry out its duties in line with the directives issued by the SHC and restrain the respondents from processing finalisation of the nomination of candidates for the position of the VC.

A division bench comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Adnanul Karim Memon, after the preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to Fuuast, and others and called their comments on September 21 to appreciate the contentions and to see whether the directives issued by the SHC has been adhered to in its letter and spirit or otherwise.

The court in the meantime observed that if the nomination of the shortlisted candidates for the position of the VC has not been finalised by the competent authority, the same process shall be subject to the outcome of this petition.

The SHC had in April had set aside the exercise of shortlisting and marking of candidates for the post of vice chancellor of Fuuast and directed the search committee to conduct the selection process de novo for the post of the VC.

It directed the search committee to conduct the selection process de novo by itself and scrutinise and appraise in a fair and transparent manner all curriculum vitae/résumé submitted by the candidates for the appointment to the post of the VC pursuant to advertisements published in newspapers on August 16, 2020 for inviting applications. The court observed that the search committee shall award marks consistent with the yardsticks/benchmarks and shortlist candidates for interviews after due diligence, assessment and proper appraisal of curriculum vitae/résumé, supporting documents and feedback forms, including the information if any submitted by candidates for rectifying any bona fide mistake in the feedback form.

The court observed that the search committee shall finalise the selection process within 30 days and thereafter shall forward the recommendations compliant with Section 12 of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences and Technology, Islamabad Ordinance, 2002 for the appointment of vice chancellor.