LAHORE: As many as four professors, including the former vice chancellor of Punjab University, Dr Mujahid Kamran, were granted bail by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday.
A two-member bench of the court – headed by Justice Ali Baqir Najafi – granted bail against a surety bond worth Rs0.5 million each to Dr Mujahid Kamran, Kamran Abid, Dr Liaquat and Amin Athar.
“How dare did the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) produce the teachers in the court handcuffed?” Justice Najafi remarked during the course of proceedings.
To this, the anti-graft watchdog’s prosecutor tendered an unconditional apology.
In its written reply, NAB stated that as many as 550 illegal recruitments had been made during the tenure of ex-VC Mujahid Kamran. “The accused by-passed the selection committee and transgressed their jurisdictions”, the NAB prosecutor told the court.
However, the court approved bail pleas of the arrested teachers and adjourned the hearing.
The Lahore bureau of the accountability watchdog had arrested Dr Kamran along with five ex-registrars over their alleged involvement in a case pertaining to illegal appointments and corruption.
As per reports, Dr Kamran was arrested after he appeared before NAB at its office for the hearing of a corruption case, however, when the professors were produced in a NAB court while being handcuffed, the civil society members disparaged the act.
The Supreme Court had also taken notice of the production of teachers being handcuffed and asked the high-ranking official of NAB to tender a public apology over the matter.