BAHAWALPUR: The Punjab government has notified the appointment of Prof Dr Qaisar Mushtaq as vice chancellor (VC) of the Islamia University, Bahawalpur (IUB), according to IUB Public Relation Officer Shehzad Khalid.

According to the notification, issued by the Punjab higher education department secretary on behalf of the governor (chancellor), “VC’s appointment shall, however, remain the subject to the final outcome of two writ petitions”.

The petitions were filed by acting VC Prof Dr Rao Muhammad Afzal Khan and Prof Dr Muhammad Shahid Naveed, a retired dean of the IUB, who were also candidates for the slot.

The petitioners had raised their reservations over the constitution of a search committee by the Punjab government and its recommendations pleading that the search committee be cancelled. The Lahore High Court (LHC) forwarded Prof Afzal’s petition to the chancellor (governor) of the university to treat the petition as representation and decide it in a week. The LHC on Dr Naveed’s petition sought parawise comments from the respondents and fixed Janaury15 for hearing.

Earlier, on the recommendation of the search committee, the Punjab government picked up from candidates’ panel Prof Dr Muhammad Ali Shah of the Bahauddin Zakariya University of Multan for the slot of the IUB VC. His notification could not be issued by the government after local political and social circles demanded the appointment of some IUB teacher as the VC.

Some IUB teachers had also challenged the recommendations of the search committee in the LHC.

According to the notification, the VC-designate, who is a noted mathematician, has been acting VC of the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, where he also served dean of the faculty of natural sciences, has been appointed for four years and is the recipient of gold medal of Pakistan academy of science besides other several awards.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2014