KARACHI, Nov 1: The Sindh High Court on Friday restrained the provincial authorities from removing Prof Dr Masood Hameed Khan as vice chancellor of the Dow University of Health Sciences.

A division bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, gave the interim order while hearing the constitutional petition of Dr Khan who assailed the new law passed by the Sindh Assembly restricting the tenure of the vice chancellors of the universities in the province.

The petitioner, represented by Barrister Dr Farough Nasim, impleaded the governor, the chief secretary and the provincial education and literacy secretary as respondents.

The vice chancellor submitted that he started his career as a resident medical officer in BPS-17 in 1980 in the provincial health department and finally became a professor of medicine in 1997.

He said that he was appointed VC of the DUHS in 2004 and he was reappointed in 2008. He said that on the expiry of his term in office in 2012, the petitioner applied in response to an advertisement and appeared before a search committee that recommended him. As a consequence, the governor once again appointed him for a third time as VC, according to the petitioner.

He argued that he was appointed for a period of four years from Jan 14, 2012 and he had acquired a vested right so as to remain VC till Jan 14, 2016.

However, the petitioner submitted that the Sindh Universities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2013 was legislated on Aug 28, 2013 and according to serial/section 10(5) of the said statute section 12(1) of the Dow Universities of Health Sciences Act, 2004 has been amended with the following provision: “Provided that the Vice Chancellor who has remained the Vice Chancellor of the University for more than two terms shall, on commencement of this Act, cease to hold office.”

He said that the respondents were bent upon terminating his services upon the strength of the impugned statute to employ a blue-eyed person in his place.

His counsel contended that the impugned statute was unconstitutional, as it had not received the required assent of the governor.

He said that impugned law was given assent to by the acting governor of Sindh when the permanent governor had gone on leave and was to shortly return to the country.

Barrister Nasim argued that the acting governor could not have passed the impugned law that was of permanent nature.

He said that the haste in which the law was passed confirmed the malafides of the provincial authorities as they wanted the acting governor to assent to the law before the governor could return to the country.

The petitioner prayed to the court to pass judgement and decree in his favour and declare that the amendment made to section 12(1) of the Dow Universities of Health Sciences Act, 2004 through the Sindh Universities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2013 was inapplicable to him.

He prayed to the court to restrain the respondents from removing him from his office.

The petitioner also requested the court to restrain the respondent from appointing anyone else in his place till the disposal of his petition.

The bench issued notice to the chief secretary and the education secretary and put off the hearing to a date to be later announced by the court office.