The petitioner had taken a plea that Prime Minister had no authority to appoint ED of Higher Education Commission. To which, the bench suspended the premier's directives for appointment of Qamar Zaman as ED. Earlier, the 18-member Commission, the governing body of the HEC, had left the decision regarding appointment of ED to the Supreme Court and did not decide anything regarding the removal of former ED Sohail Naqvi and the appointment of Qamar Zaman, while the Chairman on the directions of the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Training held on December 5 had allowed the acting ED Qamar Zaman to perform the duties and initiate the process of hiring a permanent ED.
The apex court has also directed Inspector General Police Islamabad to provide security to the Chairman HEC and his family who were receiving threats. Moreover, there were reports that he was being barred from entering his office by unknown people. The police, therefore, address chairman's problem immediately.
The court has aksi ordered that an acting Executive Director should be appointed by the Commission for a period of one month within two days and a Regular ED should be appointed within one month out of 57 applicants (excluding Sohail Naqvi who has already applied for the post of ED against the advertisement for the position). The court has ordered that a compliance report should be submitted to it within one month.
Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) in a statement issued here after the decision of the Supreme Court said he had been threatened by his own staff to accept the decision of Establishment Division (ED) about appointing, Secretary Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) as Acting Executive Director of HEC.
The Chairman HEC said that as per HEC Act, the ED could only be appointed by the Commission, whose affairs are governed by an 18-member Board. As was decided by the HEC Board on August 27, 2012, and again in a special meeting on November 8, 2012, the powers to appoint the ED only lie with the Commission. These decisions were reinforced again in the HEC Board meeting of December 14, 2012. "All offices of the HEC Secretariat are bound by the law to implement the decisions of the Board as per HEC Act," the Chairman added.
The Chairman said that since Qamar Zaman assumed the charge of Acting Executive Director on his own, the Commission does not recognise it. Hence, the situation at the HEC has become tense, as some of the staff is being instigated by unknown forces to rebel against the decision of the HEC Board, and convince the other staff members to accept his (Qamar) position. Certain staff members have taken the position that the Prime Minister, not the Commission, has the powers to appoint the ED, and therefore the authority of Qamar Zaman be recognised. "These staff members blocked the Commission Members from attending the Board meeting of December 14, 2012," the Chairman added.