A petition was been filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday challenging the appointment of four professors of Punjab University’s Institute of Education and Research (IER) for violating the criteria set by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and university rules.
Advocate Shoaib Saleem filed the petition against professors Dr Muhammad Saeed Shahid, Dr Abid Hussain Ch, Dr Rafaqat Ali and Dr Rizwan Akram Rana. The petitioner argued that the four professors were appointed to the IER in violation of the HEC criterion of having at least 12 research articles to their credit in HEC recognised journals.
The petitioner added that the professors’ appointment was also in violation of Clause 5 of statute 6 of the Schedule of the Punjab University Act 1973 as the referees to whom the research papers of the professors were sent for evaluation were neither approved by the syndicate nor did they have a background in the subject of education.
The petitioner further argued that in the first meeting of the selection board, two members had refused to appoint these professors but in the second meeting they were not called or informed, leading to the said professors being illegally appointed in their absence.
The petitioner asked the court to declare their appointment illegal for violating HEC criterion and university law.
The petition will be heard by Justice Jawad Hassan on Thursday.
