HYDERABAD: Sindh High Court circuit bench Hyderabad on Friday issued notices to the respondents to submit reply on a petition filed by Sindh University's Associate Professor Dr. Faraz Bughio who was sent on forced leave on the allegation of sexual harassment.
The Sindh High Court issued notices to nine respondents including HEC, the vice chancellor and others to submit the reply on Jan 18, 2018.
The petitioner, Associate Professor Dr Faraz Bughio, prayed the court to order an impartial inquiry over the harassment charge on the basis of Higher Education Commission's policy guidelines.
He also challenged the forced leave on which he was sent by vice chancellor Prof Dr Fateh Muhammad Burfat on Nov 2. "The petitioner had been demoralized by this [forced leave] order without any cogent reason," the petitioner's lawyer advocate Javed Ali Qazi argued.
He said the forced leave was an indirect punishment which had been inflicted without the due process of inquiry. Qazi said the petitioner was a faculty member of Institute of English Language and Literature (IELL) and that he appeared before 3 inquiry committees in the months of May and August, 2017.
However, the lawyer contended that none of the three committees, which included two of IELL, fulfilled the criterion necessary for fairness and impartiality of an inquiry.
The lawyer also challenged legality of the two committees because they also included some teachers who were junior to Dr Bughio in IELL. "The formation of these committees was illegal," the counsel asserted.
"The purported false complaint is so serious in nature that without proving [Dr Bughio] guilty [and by] pronouncing a punitive action the authorities have condemned the petitioner not to live with the same dignity and honour that he was enjoying," read the petition.
The respondents include HEC, SU's VC and registrar, director IELL, chairperson harassment complaint cell, ASP Suhai Aijaz and IELL's student Ramsha Memon who allegedly accused Dr Bughio for harassment.
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