Engineer Ahmed Farooq Bazai has been appointed as the acting chairperson of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) by the federal government.
Bazai is the vice chancellor of Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS).
In the light of the Sindh High Court order that bars the government from appointing a permanent chairperson, the chairperson post has been kept vacant till the case is disposed of, said a notification.
The notification further said: “Accordingly, the controlling authority is pleased to nominate Engr. Ahmed Farooq Bazai…to act as chairperson in terms of Section 8(3) of the HEC Ordinance, 2002.”
“The operation of this notification shall be subject to the order(s) passed by Sindh High Court in Suit No. 774/2021,” the notification added.
In March, The government had removed Dr Tariq Banuri from the HEC chairperson post with an immediate effect.
Dr Banuri was appointed as the chief of the commission in 2018 by then prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government. His tenure was supposed to end in May 2022. However, in a notification that the Cabinet Secretariat announced his removal on March 27.
Banuri had accused the former HEC chief, Dr Attaur Rehman, of orchestrating his removal. He subsequently went to the Sindh High Court that has stopped the government from appointing a new chairperson in the light of his petition.
