ISLAMABAD:8December: The Supreme Court (SC) will resume today (Thursday) the hearing of a case against fourth extension in tenure of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi’s (AAUR) Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood Khan.

A two-member of the apex court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Tariq Parvez is hearing the case. Attorney General for Pakistan and Punjab Advocate General and Chief Secretary (SC) will appear before the court on notice.

The court has asked the VC to give justification as to why he had been holding the top position at the varsity for the last 10 years and got four extensions.

The court had taken suo motu notice into the matter on an application filed by one Ahsan Munir expressing shock over giving extension to an individual who is 70-year-old by relaxing the relevant rules instead of providing opportunity to a younger person in his place. Khan is serving his fourth extension, which had been given to him in violation of the university’s charter.

After a preliminary hearing of the application on November 30 the court had directed Khan to appear before the court through his counsel. Representing the Punjab CS Punjab Additional Advocate Jawwad Hassan had conceded before the court that the appointment was illegal and therefore the provincial government would not support it.

Quoting a recent decision of SC on the petition of former prosecutor general National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Irfan Qadir, Hassan had argued before the court that no extension could be granted to an individual after his four-year tenure. He had submitted that the rules also suggested that a person who has attained superannuation at the age of 65 could not be granted further extension.

Khan was appointed VC of the university in 2001 during the government of Pervez Musharraf being a close relative of the then Petroleum Minister Naurez Shakoor. The caretaker government of Mohammadmian Soomro granted his last extension that will end in 2012. The university is mandated to produce high-quality agricultural scientists and to form an organised scientific infrastructure for teaching and research.Daily Times.