The Punjab government has decided to challenge the Lahore High Court verdict which declared the re-appointment of Professor Malik Hussain Mubashar as the University of Health Sciences (UHS) vice chancellor as null and void in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Pakistan Today has learnt. Sources in government privy to the development revealed that the government was likely to file the petition in the SC today (Wednesday) to get Mubashar re-appointed as the UHS VC. Sources said the decision had come after various factors were considered it was decided that the university needed ‘leadership’ and ‘vision’ under the present VC. They said private medical colleges, former employees of the UHS and students who could not secure admissions in medical colleges due to entry tests had lobbied against the VC and had raised several issues against him.
They further said the case was also in the LHC when Mubashar was re-appointed as the VC but recently the court verdict declared the re-appointment null and void, leaving no option for the government but to file a petition in the SC.
They further said the university was also facing problems in running its day-to-day affairs as currently the senior-most Professor Dr Muhammad Tahir was looking after the affairs of the university after Mubashar had left the post. The sources further said the government had also decided to file the petition considering the recent HEC ranking and a recent offer from the University of Cambridge to include the UHS in the list of Commonwealth Universities.
To a question on “favouratism”, sources said there was a shortage of experienced people in the health sector who were good administrators. “Besides, institutions here work under personalised vision and leadership and the decision will leave things half-baked and hence the government has taken the decision,” they added.
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