The Peshawar High Court (PHC) was on Monday moved against the appointment of Dr Saqlain Naqvi as the vice chancellor of Charsadda’s Bacha Khan University (BKU) for his conviction in a sexual assault case.
It may be mentioned here that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had selected Prof Naqvi for the position on June 9 for a three-year term.
Filed through his advocates Muhib Jan and Muhammad Irshad, BKU employee Shafiur Rehman, in his petition, submitted that the appointment was ‘unlawful’.
The VC had been convicted in a sexual harassment case against a female student while serving at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR).
The petitioner has made the BKU registrar, BKU academic search committee, Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan, HEC department K-P and PMAS-AAUR respondents in his plea.
The petitioner argued that Prof Naqvi was no longer Sadiq or Ameen following the case and, hence, could not be appointed as the vice-chancellor. He contended that the appointment was based on political grounds as well as the preferences of authorities, and requested the court to declare the appointment null and void.
According to a statement issued by Dr Naqvi, he has a non-objection certificate (NOC) from PMAS-AAUR.
The VC has also approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench to suspend the federal ombudsman decision against him on grounds of sexual harassment.
