Controversial appointment: SC seeks service record of Peoples university VC

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) directed on Thursday the provincial advocate-general to submit complete service record of the vice-chancellor (VC) of Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women, Nawabshah, since his appointment in 2011.

A three-member bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam, passed this direction while hearing a petition challenging the contractual appointment and subsequent extension in tenure of Azam Yusfani as the VC allegedly in violation of the apex court’s ruling. The gearing was conducted at SC’s Karachi Registry.

The petitioner, Professor Noor Muhammad Khaskheli, informed the bench that the respondent, Yusfani, had joined Pakistan International Airlines in 1997 on a contractual basis and was still continuing his job at the national flag-carrier. He alleged that in the meantime the respondent was also appointed as Peoples Women’s Medical University VC on contractual basis in 2011, which he continued until recently when he was granted extension upon expiry of his service tenure.

The petitioner’s lawyer argued that the respondent was performing two jobs simultaneously on contractual basis. The judges were told that Yusfani’s contractual appointment and subsequent extension was a clear violation of the landmark judgment rendered by the apex court in 2013, wherein contractual appointments were declared illegal and unlawful.

On the court’s query, the advocate-general, Barrister Zamir Ghumro, maintained that the appointment of the respondent as VC under contract was in accordance with the relevant laws, which were duly amended in 2015 to hire services of the individuals on contractual basis. However, the bench members directed Ghumro to submit complete service record of the respondent’s appointment since 2011.

Source: The Express Tribune