ISLAMABAD: In a landmark ruling, Federal Ombudsperson for Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Fauzia Viqar on Friday removed Health Services Academy Vice Chancellor from service after finding him guilty of sexual harassment, abuse of authority and quid pro quo misconduct under the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010.
The VC misused his dominant institutional position to develop and sustain an inappropriate relationship with his student, who later became his junior colleague, and granted her extraordinary access and professional privileges without lawful authority, declared the ombudsperson.
Rejecting the defence of “consent” and allegations of “honey-trapping,” she ruled that consent had no legal value where a clear power imbalance existed, particularly in teacher-student and senior-junior relationships.
The ombudsperson added that intimate communication initiated from the vice chancellor’s own phone, undue appointments and unchecked proximity constituted clear evidence of quid pro quo harassment.
She dismissed all allegations of financial misappropriation levelled against the student for lack of evidence, observing that no contemporaneous complaints or recovery proceedings were initiated prior to the dispute.
Concluding that the misconduct was proved beyond doubt and posed a serious risk of repetition, the ombudsperson dismissed the vice chancellor’s complaint, upheld the harassment complaint against him and ordered his removal from service under Sections 4(ii)(c) and 4(ii)(e) of the Act, reinforcing the principle that no public office is above accountability.
