Lahore: PU VC’s wife gets interim relief from LHC

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Counsel for Shazia Qureshi and Dr Mujahid Kamran contends Qureshi was senior-most member of faculty

Staff Report

LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC), as an interim relief, on Wednesday stayed the single bench order of removing Punjab University Law College Principal Shazia Qureshi from her post.
The division bench, comprising Justice Maulvi Anwarul Haq and Justice Abdul Sattar Goraya admitted the inter-court appeal of PU Vice Chancellor Dr Maujhid Kamran and his wife Shazia Qureshi for regular hearing, and issued a notice to Ammara Khawaja advocate.
The single bench had declared Qureshi’s appointment illegal while partially accepting Khawaja’s petition. Justice Hafiz Tariq Nasim, on June 1, had ordered that Qureshi be removed from her post, and held that her appointment was tainted with nepotism made in violation of law and policy. The bench had observed that according to the university calendar and the University of the Punjab Act 1973, the principal could only be appointed by a syndicate on the recommendation of the VC from amongst the three senior-most professors.
The husband and wife, through their counsel, contended that Khawaja had never directly challenged Qureshi’s appointment before the single bench. They contended that she had only questioned the refusal of her admission to LLM classes. Therefore, a case of issuance of writ of quo warranto (asking under what authority she is holding the office) was not made, they said.
Senior-most: The counsel pleaded that it was an admitted fact that in the absence of professors and associate professors, the VC’s wife was the senior-most faculty member in the Law College. The counsel submitted that the VC had duly exercised his powers under Section 15(3) of the University of Punjab Act 1973, but the single bench overlooked this point.
The counsel said Qureshi was appointed principal/in-charge of the college much before her marriage to the VC. The counsel requested that the single bench order be set aside.

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