LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday set aside appointment of Dr Muhammad Ashraf as vice chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, and ordered the Punjab government to notify the candidate highest in merit list strictly in accordance with law.

Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan had moved a petition pleading that the appointment of the respondent had been made in violation of a high court’s judgment.The petitioner was represented by advocates Bilal Hasan Minto and Muhammad Saram Israr.

The petitioner stated that the speaker while acting as chancellor in the absence of the governor, had on April 16, 2019, issued a notification of appointment of Dr Ashraf as new vice chancellor of the university.

He said this was done after the seat of vice chancellor fell vacant in January 2017. For more than two years, the institution worked without a regular VC.

Dr Khan submitted that the chancellor was directed by a high court judgment on March 13, 2019 to notify the person highest in merit (as prepared by the search committee formed purely for the purpose of selection of a suitable candidate) as the VC of the agriculture university within a period of 15 days.

Asks govt to post top candidate on merit list

The petitioner said he was the person highest on merit but the government in sheer violation of merit as well as the directions of the LHC appointed the person lowest on merit (from amongst the three shortlisted candidates) as the VC.

Assistant Advocate General Zargham Lukhesar opposed the maintainability of the petition saying the court could not inquire into the advice tendered to the governor by the chief minister except in extreme cases of mala fide.

He said the court could neither perform functions of a competent authority nor substitute its decision unless the discretion had been exercised in an arbitrary, unreasonable or irrational manner.

The law officer further submitted that audit paras were severe in nature and only this reason was sufficient to refuse appointment to the petitioner. He said the competent authority had provided cogent reasons while appointing the respondent and refusing appointment to the petitioner.

Justice Sajid Mahmood Sethi, however, did not incline to go into factual position as to the number of unsettled audit paras and observed that the legal impact and effect of unsettled audit paras on petitioner’s appointment needed to be examined.

Defending the respondent, Advocate Hafiz Tariq Nasim argued that the selection process was transparent and no illegality was committed. He said though search committee found the petitioner at No.1 on merit but the competent authority had power to appoint according to his own wisdom after due deliberation and examining each and every aspect of the matter. He said sufficient evidence existed on record to disqualify the petitioner.

UAF legal adviser Awais Khalid also defended the impugned appointment and submitted that it was prerogative of the competent authority to check suitability of candidates for the post. He said the search committee was a recommending body and not the appointing authority.

In his decision, Justice Sethi observed that the appointing authority had power to differ with the recommendation of the search committee but the decision must be based on rules of fairness and cogent reasons as absolute power was not vested with the authority to appoint any person of its choice.

The judge further observed that the unwillingness of the competent authority to appoint the candidate highest in merit was not only in violation of judgments but also appeared to be based on mala fide of the government functionaries.

He said the mala fide of the functionaries was evident from their reply wherein they submitted that the petitioner previously retained the post of the VC because of political influence of his family.

“The fact that the respondents have expressly stated this in their reply shows that they are not willing to appoint the petitioner, due to political affiliation of family or family member(s) of petitioner, disregarding the directions of this court as well as that of Supreme Court of Pakistan,” added the judge in his verdict.

The judge allowed the petition and set aside the impugned notification being illegal, unlawful and without lawful authority and directed the competent authority to notify the candidate highest in merit strictly in accordance with law and judgments.

The judge also ordered the government to appoint pro-chancellor of the university as a stop-gap arrangement to run the day to day affairs till the appointment of the regular incumbent.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2020