KARACHl: The Sindh High Court on Thursday suspended the operation of a notification about the appointment of Prof Noushad A. Shaikh as vice chancellor of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS).

A division bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, put the provincial authorities concerned and the DUHS registrar on notice with the direction to file their comments till Oct 15.

The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) and Dr Saeed Qureshi petitioned the SHC to challenge the appointment of Prof Shaikh.

The petitioners contended that in order to find a suitable candidate for the post of vice chancellor, the varsity had constituted a search committee that received applications from 12 candidates including Dr Qureshi. They submitted that the committee forwarded on Oct 2 a summary to the chief minister recommending Dr Qureshi for the position of vice chancellor.

However, they added, the governor appointed Prof Shaikh the same day.

The petitioners argued that the appointment was a violation of the article 12(1) of the DUHS Ordinance 2004 as well as the amended Article 105 of the Constitution as the governor had no authority to make any changes to the chief minister`s recommendations in this regard.

They asked the court to suspend the notification regarding Prof Shaikh`s appointment and also sought direction for the authorities concerned to consider Dr Qureshi for the post. The bench issued notices to the respondents as well as the advocate general for Oct 15 and suspended the operation of the notification till the next hearing.