BAHAWALPUR: Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court (LHC) accepted for hearing the writ petition of Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan, who was not appointed the vice-chancellor of the Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB), against the Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) for re-advertisement of the post of the IUB VC and fixed Jan 13, 2025, for hearing of the case.

The main petition of Dr Khan against non-issuance of notification of his posting for the VC has already been accepted by the LHC.

In his writ petition, the petitioner submitted that the HED had given an advertisement for the post of VC in various newspapers on Dec 12, 2024, with a short deadline of Dec 26, 2024, with malafide intention to sabotage his earlier main writ petition which was fixed for hearing on Jan 13, 2025.

In his main writ petition, Prof Khan had challenged that despite the fact that he was on the top of the list of selectees by the search committee, his appointment notification as the IUB VC was not issued.

Justice Shahid Karim in his orders (the copy of which is with Dawn) on Friday said that “it is made clear that any appointment made pursuant to the advertisement shall be subject to the decision of the main petition”.

The judge issued notices to the four respondents, including Punjab HED through its secretary, IUB chancellor/Punjab governor, Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC)and IUB VC Prof Dr. Muhammad Kamran, holding additional charge for four months, and fixed Jan 13, 2025 for hearing.

It may be mentioned that the LHC had also earlier fixed Jan13 for the hearing of petitioner’s main writ petition regarding non-issuance of his notification of his appointment as IUB VC.

ACCIDENT: One Ahmed Ali (70) was killed while his pillion rider, Muhammad Nawaz, suffered serious injuries when their motorcycle was hit by a speeding truck near DHA Main Gate on Yazman Road.

The body was handed over to the family of the deceased while the injured was shifted to the Bahawal Victoria Hospital.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2024