KARACHI: Hearing the petition challenging appointment of the Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU)’s vice chancellor without merit, the Sindh High Court (SHC) Justice Kausar Sultana Hussain has issued notices to the Sindh government authorities including the chief secretary, secretary of the boards and universities department, JSMU VC and other defendants as well as advocates general.

A date for hearing those who have been issued notices would be fixed later.

Prof Dr Lubna Ansari Baig, through her counsel Haider Waheed, pleaded to the SHC to suspend appointment of Prof Dr Amajd Siraj Memon as the vice chancellor and reinstate Prof Dr Shahid Rasool as the acting VC till the case was settled.

Lubna Baig apprised the high court that she was a professor at the JSMU and one of the shortlisted candidates eligible for appointment of the varsity’s VC.

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Presenting a copy of the merit list, she said she had been shortlisted by the search committee along with two other candidates and her marks (70) were the highest among them followed by Dr Amjad Memon’s 67.25 marks and Prof Dr Khaja H. Mujtaba’s 48.75 marks.

The counsel Haider Waheed said Dr Memon was appointed as the vice chancellor through a notification on March 24 for four years. He said the appointment violated a ruling of the Supreme Court which stated that the person with the highest marks should be appointed unless the chief minister provided a valid reason against his/ her appointment and the reason would be open to judicial scrutiny and review.

Waheed said his client had sought reasons from the concerned authorities to appoint Dr Memon as the VC to which they responded that they were not obliged to answer her.

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