LAHORE: The verdict of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has put the fate of eleven Vice Chancellors of public sector universities in jeopardy by declaring Universities Amendment Act 2012 illegal and unconstitutional. The declaration has also made the Vice Chancellor search committee controversial. The Act has allowed the Government of Punjab, Higher Education Department Punjab and Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) to set the criteria for the appointment of Vice Chancellors and select the final candidate. It is pertinent to mention here that on Thursday, LHC upon hearing of the case against the appointment of VCs asked the Punjab Government to dismiss the four VCs. The court also ordered the HED to notify separate Search Committees for each of the four universities and carry out the appointment process afresh. On March 3 2015, Higher Education Department (HED) made a committee titled Vice Chancellors Search Committee (VCSC) which was aimed at submission of its recommendations for appointment of VCs of public sector varsities. The committee consisted of renowned educationists, business tycoon Syed Babar Ali as Convener, Provincial Minister Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, Dr Zafar Iqbal Qureshi, Chairperson PHEC Dr Nizam ud Din and Secretary HED. However, the Committee was asked to submit the names and panels for the posts of Vice Chancellors in varsities including Fatima Jinnah Women’s University Rawalpindi, Lahore College for Women University (LCWU), Government College University (GCU) Lahore, University of Education (UoE) Lahore, University of Sargodha, Bahauddin Zakaria University (BZU) Lahore, University of the Punjab Lahore, The Ghazi University Dera Ghazi Khan, Government Sadiq College Women University Bahawalpur, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Engineering and Technology Multan and Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology Rahim Yar Khan, The VCSC interviewed more than 100 candidates for the seats of VC in eleven varsities and has forwarded their recommendations to the Chief Minister for further appointments. The Punjab Chief Minister later, on the recommendations of VCSC, finalised the names of already working VCs and allowed them to continue to work. A Member of the VC Search Committee told Daily Times on condition of anonymity that it was not an easy process to select a candidate and recommend them to the chief minister. The member further said it took two to three months for a proper selection process. Replying to a question regarding the legal value of a search committee after the LHC’s decision, the member said that the previous committee was formed in accordance with the Universities Amendment Act 2012 which was also passed by Punjab Assembly. Later on, a similar act was also passed by other provinces and search committees were formed.