LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday directed the provincial government to appoint a regular vice chancellor of Punjab University (PU) within two weeks.

Justice Shahid Waheed passed the order on a petition filed by secretary of PU’s academic staff association Dr Amjad Magsi and others, questioning the delay in the appointment of a regular VC of the varsity.

Advocate Abid Saqi, on behalf of the petitioners, stated before the court that the tenure of former VC Dr Niaz Ahmad expired on June 14.

He pointed out that the government instead of appointing a new regular VC, gave an interim charge of the post to Dr Ahmad.

Mr Saqi argued that there was no provision of an interim VC in the law.

He asked the court to set aside the interim charge of the post given to the former VC and direct the government to appoint a regular one without further delay.

Earlier, the judge expressed his dissatisfaction over a reply submitted by the secretary for higher education.

Justice Waheed regretted that a prestigious institution like PU was being run without a regular VC.

The judge turned down a request from the secretary for more time and observed that the appointment of the VC had already been delayed for five months.

The judge directed the government to ensure appointment of regular VC of the PU within two weeks and submit a compliance report on Nov 8.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2022