The Lahore High Court on Tuesday turned down a plea for stay and sought replies from the Punjab government and secretary higher education by May 29 on a petition challenging the search committee and criterion set for the appointment of Chairman Punjab Higher Education Commission (HEC). Petitioner Vice Chancellor of Government College University Lahore Prof. Dr. Hassan Amir Shah had termed the process adopted by the search committee as unlawful.
The search committee under challenge is comprised of Dr. Attaur Rehman as convener, Dr. Arif Nazir Butt, Dr. Khalid Aftab and Shahid Najam. Earlier, counsel of the petitioner Rana Asadullah Khan argued that his client secured 94 of 100 qualification points, but had not been invited for interview by the committee. He said the committee failed to perform its duty in accordance with principles of justice, equity, fair play and transparency.
He pointed out that the higher education department notified short listing criteria according to which candidates scoring 75 points would be short-listed for the interview. However, he said the committee acted discriminately against the petitioner by not calling him for an interview despite meeting the criteria.
He, therefore, asked the court to direct the committee to act strictly in accordance with law and its notified mandate. The counsel also urged the court to restrain the provincial government from acting upon the legally flawed recommendations of the search committee.