ISLAMABAD: A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), on Tuesday, restored Dr Tariq Banuri as the chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
The dual bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq announced its short order in a petition filed by 15 eminent scholars and educationists against the Higher Education Commission (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 and the Higher Education Commission (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 and the removal of Tariq Banuri as the chairman of the commission.
The short order said; “For reasons to be recorded later the petition in hand is allowed. Consequently, the impugned notifications, dated 26.03.2021 and 05.04.2021, are declared to have been issued without lawful authority and contrary to amended provisions of the Higher Education Commission Ordinance, 2002.”
“Respondent No 6, Dr. Tariq Javed Banuri; therefore, stands restored as the chairman of the HEC,” added the court.
The petitioners including Mosharraf Ali Zaidi, Pervez Hoodbhoy, M Asif Khan, Syed Ahmed Masood, A H Nayyar, Naazish Attaullah, Salima Hashim and others, had moved court through Faisal Siddiqui advocate.
Their petition said the Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training acting in a malafide manner on the dictates of the present federal government suggested amendments in the Ordinance, 2002, on the ridiculous pretext that “in [the] post-Covid era, the paradigm of Higher Education System and its delivery mode has undergone tremendous changes”, and furthermore that the process and criteria of tenured appointments need to be reviewed in order to “keep pace with the changing ecosystem of 21st century skills”.
They submitted that the stated purpose is floating with malafides and as explained below, the amendments suggested in the Ordinance, 2002 had the consequence of malafidely removing the Respondent No 6 (Tariq Banuri) as the chairperson of the HEC (although the text of the First Impugned Ordinance does not support such intention) in order to destroy the autonomous nature of the HEC, which was fundamentally safeguarded by the security of tenure of the respondent No 6 and the members of the HEC.
The counsel for the petitioners said that the tenure of the appointment has also been reduced, while the terms used in the ordinance are also for specific objectives. He added that the HEC chairman can only be dismissed under the sub-section 6 [of the regulations].
Therefore, he prayed before the court to permanently restrain the respondents from again removing Dr Banuri from his tenure post of four years as chairperson of the HEC ending on 29 May 2022 (plus the entire time period during which he was illegally removed) and also permanently restrain the respondents from appointing any other person as chairperson of the HEC during the tenure of Banuri ending on 29 May 2022 (plus the entire time period during which he was illegally removed).
Banuri was appointed at the post by former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in May 2018 and he was to complete his tenure in May 2022.
On March 27, the present government had announced the removal of Dr Banuri as the chairman of the HEC with immediate effect.
A notification issued by the Cabinet Secretariat read, “In terms of sub-section (5), read with sub-section (5A), of Section 6 of HEC Ordinance, 2002, as amended vide HEC (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, Dr Tariq Banuri has ceased to be the chairperson, HEC, forthwith and is accordingly removed from the said post with immediate effect.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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