LAHORE: Two candidates in the race for the post of vice chancellors of medical universities of the provincial capital have objected to the `selection` of two members on the search panels.

The candidates are former vice chancellor of the King Edward Medical University Prof Asad Aslam Khan and former professor of histopathology at KEMU Prof Dr Syed Mulazam Hussain Bukhari. They requested the authorities for the replacement of the members of the search panels.

Prof Mulazam says he will move court against the panel formation if his request is not entertained, an official told Dawn. He said the members of the search panels included renowned orthopaedic surgeon currently heading the Orthopaedic & Spine Unit at the Lahore Medical & Dental College/Ghurki Trust Hopital Prof Dr Amir Aziz and retired VC of KEMU Prof Dr Faisal Masood. Prof Dr Amir is heading the panel formed for the selection process of the KEMU while Prof Faisal Masood is member of the board constituted for the Fatima Jinnah Medical University.

He said the objection of the two candidates to the `integrity` of a panel head and another member came at a time when the health department had finalised the schedule to start interview process this month.

In a related development, he said, the health department had taken a decision not to shortlist any candidate for the interviews. He said it had decided to call the 36 candidates who had applied for the KEMU,FJMU and University of Health Sciences.

According to the schedule, he said, the interview for the UHS position would be held on July 15 and for KEMU on July 23.

The candidates for the FJMU slot would appear for interview a week later.

The official said Prof Asad Aslam, who is in the race for the KEMU VC slot, in his application to the health department said Prof Amir Aziz had a bias towards the MS/MD degree programme. He further said that since Prof Aziz had been against the university status of the KEMU, he remained in confrontation with those who had MS/MD degrees.

Prof Asad told the health department that he was an MS degree holder and feared `biased behaviour` by Prof Amir Aziz during interview or the selection process of the VC. He indicated in his application that he would not appear before the panel which was being headed by Prof Amir Aziz, requesting the health department to replace him.

The official said Prof Mulazam Hussain raised objection to both Prof Amir Aziz as well as Prof Faisal Masood. He claimed that Prof Masood had not been in good terms with him when he (Prof Mulazam) was serving the KEMU as professor of histopathology.

He further said that being VC of the KEMU at that time Prof Faisal Masood forced him to leave the institute. He said `conflict of interest` would create a doubt about the entire selection process being adopted by the health department for the suitable candidates for the VC of three medical universities of Lahore.