Pakistan Bar Council: SC issues notices to illegally affiliated universities

PBC alleges lax controls leading to deterioration in quality of education.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court has issued notices to nine universities, which have illegally granted affiliation to law colleges outside their territorial jurisdiction; these universities are reportedly reluctant to furnish information regarding affiliations to the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the top regulatory body of lawyers.

A two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani on Monday took up the miscellaneous application, filed by the PBC, against nine universities including Bahauddin Zakriya University in Multan, Islamia University in Bahawalpur, Peshawar University, Gomal University in DI Khan, Balochistan University in Quetta, Karachi University, University of Sindh in Karachi, Shah Abdul Latif University in Khairpur and Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology in Karachi.

The bar council’s vice chairman Muhammad Ramzam Chaudhry stated that the PBC has strived to raise the standard and quality of legal education in the country and it has framed rules with regards to legal education, affiliation of law colleges and reorganization of universities whose degree in law shall serve as qualification for an advocate’s enrolment.

“On account of liberal policies of the universities to grant affiliation to private law colleges without ensuring strict observance of requirements of affiliation rules and their inadequate system of checks and controls, the standard and quality of legal education has deteriorated to a great extent,” it adds.

The PBC further says that most law colleges affiliated with different universities are not adhering to the requirements of the affiliated bar council, adding that these universities have repeatedly requested implementation of the rules by the law colleges, with particular reference to the apex court’s order on January 10, 2007. “It is a matter of concern that despite repeated requests, the universities have not furnished the desired information,” the PBC stated.

It is further stated that the apex court on September 24, 2013 directed the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to collect information from universities across the country regarding their affiliation with law colleges, the standard of legal education they are imparting and their periodic inspections; neither the HEC nor the universities concerned have submitted the requisite information yet.

The PBC further stated that Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology in Karachi had given an undertaking four years ago that it would restrict the legal education it offered at its campus in Karachi and will not conduct law classes anywhere else. However, the university has opened a campus in Lahore and Islamabad where LLB and LLM classes are being offered.

Representatives of the bar have requested the bench to issue notices to the said universities. The court has ordered the universities to submit their reply and adjourned the hearing till May 5.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th, 2014.