Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed as the chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC). He has served as the HEC chairman before while Ahmed also held the office of the HEC executive director previously. According to a notification issued by the prime minister office on Saturday the approval was made after considering the recommendations of the Search Committee. Earlier Islamabad High Court had directed the federal government to appoint the HEC chairman within the next 15 days.