KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has suspended a decision of the Karachi University’s Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology (CEMB) through which it revoked the tenure track status of a senior professor.

A single bench comprising Justice Muhammad Abdur Rehman issued notices to the education ministry, KU and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) for Jan 16 on the civil suit of plaintiff Dr Munawwer Rasheed, an associate professor in the CEMB.

Prof Rasheed asked the court to grant a stay on a letter dated Dec 11 in which the Board of Governors of the CEMB, through a resolution, revoked the Tenure Track Statutes (TTS) scheme.

He cited the federation of Pakistan through ministry of education, the KU, CEMB, the HEC and Dr Noor-us-Saher of the CEMB as defendants.

The bench suspended the impugned letter and ruled: “In the interim, the letter dated 11.12.2024 impugned in this suit shall remain suspended.”

The plaintiff’s counsel submitted that his client had been appointed at the CEMB under the TTS scheme of the HEC.

He further submitted that the BoG of the CEMB had approved the scheme, but it recently revoked it through a resolution, rendering the plaintiff redundant.

The counsel argued that as per the HEC, the tenure of the scheme could not be revoked without the approval of the federal government.

He maintained that even if the scheme had been revoked, it could not affect his client’s rights in a retrospective manner.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2025