Legal education: ‘PU cannot authenticate law degrees’

The petitioner’s counsel requested the court to declare it illegal for the PU to issue equivalence certificates

LAHORE: Lahore High Court on Monday issued notices to the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the Punjab Bar Council and the Punjab Higher Education Commission in a petition challenging authority of the Punjab University to ‘recognise’ bachelor’s of law degrees.

Petitioner’s counsel Advocate Sheraz Zaka submitted that under the Legal Education Rules of 2015, the PHEC and the PBC were the only two authorities that could grant recognition for bachelor’s of law degrees. He said that under the Higher Education Commission Ordinance the HEC was empowered to issue equivalence certificates to students seeking admission in master’s of law degree programmes.

The petitioner’s counsel said that by issuing equivalence certificates to those seeking admission in master’s of law degree programmes the PU was acting beyond its mandated powers. He requested the court to declare it illegal for the PU to issue equivalence certificates.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2016.