Court declares PU equivalence dept illegal

LHC rules Higher Education Commission is the sole authority to recognise degrees and issue certificates

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has declared illegal the Punjab University’s equivalence department that has for years graded degrees and diplomas of students before admissions.

On Monday, Justice Atir Mehmood announced the verdict reserved on March 14, observing the PU had no jurisdiction to recognise degrees or to issue equivalence certificates.



The Higher Education Commission, the judge ruled, is the sole authority to recognise degrees and issue equivalences. Once the degree is recognised by the HEC, there can be no further objections from any university in giving admission to a student for postgraduate courses.

The order came on a petition filed by Wajid Ali. Petitioner’s lawyer Sheraz Zaka submitted the sole prerogative to recognise degree rested with the HEC and the PU was exploiting students by charging Rs1,000 for issuing equivalence certificates through its own department.

The advocate argued the HEC was authorised to recognise degrees under the HEC Ordinance, 2002. As higher education was a federal subject, the authority to recognise degrees rested with HEC and not the PU, he added.

The counsel said the PU had been acting beyond its powers and extorting money from students in the name of issuance of equivalence certificates for admission in masters programmes and requested the court to declare the PU department illegal.



The PU counsel in his reply had stated the establishment of the equivalence department was a policy decision of the university and the court could not interfere in the matter. He asked the court to dismiss the petition for being not maintainable.

The HEC had submitted the PU’s equivalence department was unlawful and should be disbanded. In its response to the writ petition, the commission stated the law empowered the HEC to determine equivalence and recognition of degrees, diplomas and certificates awarded by the institutions within the country and abroad. The HEC maintained there could be no provision or power to any other department like the PU equivalence department to practice a parallel system of equivalence since it led to distortion within the equivalence scheme as provided by the HEC.

Claiming the department amo­un­ted to usurpation of HEC powers, the HEC had requested the court to declare the department illegal.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2017.