Karachi’s Institute of Business Administration (IBA) has challenged in the Sindh High Court (SHC) a June 13 verdict by the provincial ombudsman, which had last month overturned the varsity executive director’s (ED) refusal to implement an on-campus gender discrimination case verdict.

 

In a statement, IBA said the provincial ombudsman “wrongly interpreted” the powers of the competent authority – the university’s ED – in former lecturer Zahra Sabri’s case and claimed that the inquiry committee established under the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010, “is a merely recommendatory body.”

 

The competent authority at IBA “did not approve the recommendations of the Inquiry Committee”, the statement read, arguing that the complaint was against an individual – the registrar – and not the university’s administration.

 

However, the ombudsman ruled that the competent authority had no right to disagree with or review the committee’s recommendations and that it could only implement them or let them be challenged at a higher forum.

 

According to the statement, “The recent verdict of the Provincial Ombudsman Sindh does not affirm the recommendations of the Inquiry Committee but has only allowed the appeal of the Complainant, by directing the appointment of a new Competent Authority to implement the recommendations, on the technical ground that the Competent Authority had no power to review and/or disagree with the recommendations of the Inquiry Committee and that such recommendations of the Inquiry Committee, followed by the decision of the Competent Authority, can only be challenged before the Provincial Ombudsman Sindh.”

 

Disagreeing with the interpretation, IBA has now challenged the Provincial Ombudsman Sindh’s verdict, stating:

 

“IBA has challenged the decision of the Provincial Ombudsman Sindh before the Honorable Sindh High Court because, based on legal advice, IBA is of the opinion that the powers of the Competent Authority have been wrongly interpreted. The Honorable Sindh High Court, vide its Order dated: 26-06-2025, has been pleased to direct the newly designated Competent Authority that the letter of apology and the cheque of PKR 300,000 shall not be handed over to the Complainant till the decision of the case by the Honorable Sindh High Court. As the case is pending, IBA reiterates that no Judicial forum or Quasi-Judicial forum has affirmed the recommendations of the Inquiry Committee and that the issue as to whether the recommendations of the Inquiry Committee were legal and valid is still to be decided by the Honorable Sindh High Court and in future proceedings before the Provincial Ombudsman Sindh.

 

"In the end, we expect that till the issue is finally decided by the abovementioned forums, no person pre-judges and formulates opinions on the basis of the statements issued by any particular party or on the basis of misinformation, false narratives and false allegations being spread on social media.”

 

The statement comes days after reports that Sabri was delivered justice nearly two years after she filed a gender discrimination case against IBA for evicting the only two single female residents of the varsity’s Visiting Faculty Residence (VFR).

 

Ombudsman Sindh had on Jun 13 upheld the verdict of the institute’s Anti-Harassment Committee (AHC), mandating compensation, a formal apology and policy reforms over discrimination faced by the two women, including Zahra who, at the time, worked as a South Asian History and Literatures lecturer at IBA.

 

According to Zahra, she and her colleague were, in December 2022, asked to vacate their accommodation on a short notice of three days.

 

“No male or married faculty members were asked to evict,” she had stated in her complaint against the orders issued by Registrar Dr Mohammad Asad llyas and ratified by IBA’s Executive Director (ED) Dr Syed Akbar Zaidi.

 

She had also highlighted “unprofessional remarks” by the registrar who told Zahra and her colleague to “find a husband so that they also be allowed to stay at the VFR”.

 

While Zahra’s appeal against the move had led to an AHC ruling mandating compensation, apology and reforms, justice was denied following the Jan 2023 internal complaint under Pakistan’s Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act of 2010 as IBA ED Dr Zaidi, who had been designated as the competent authority under said act, dismissed the AHC’s rulings.

 

However, on June 13, the Ombudsman overturned the IBA ED’s refusal to implement the verdict as the assigned competent authority. According to the Ombudsman Sindh, Dr Zaidi, in capacity of competent authority, was obligated to implement the AHC’s recommendations within one week, with “no power to modify, alter, set-aside or refuse”, which he failed to implement, violating the rules under the Act. 

 

According to the ruling, he also compromised his neutrality as competent authority after he appeared as a witness in the inquiry proceedings in support of the other respondent and accused, Registrar Dr Ilyas. 

 

The Ombudsman further ruled that the IBA Board of Governors and its Human Resources (HR) committee had no legal standing to override the inquiry findings as under the 2010 act, only the Ombudsman has appellate authority over such decisions.

 

Overruling the IBA ED’s refusal from August 2023, the ombudsperson ordered varsity to appoint a new competent authority within a week to ensure the AHC’s findings were acted upon.

 

The order called for the implementation of AHC’s recommendations within a week, including the payment of Rs300,000 to Zahra for harassment, a written apology from IBA for gender-based discrimination, and the creation and consistent enforcement of clear, non-discriminatory housing policies.

 

This was followed by the SHC issuing notices to respondents on the petition filed by IBA. The SHC has also directed that the compensation amount and apology letter not be handed over to the former lecturer until the petition is decided.