IHC bars varsity from granting admissions, issuing degrees till HEC clearance

Justice Minallah rules HEC has exclusive regulatory authority to guard against fraudulent institutions

ISLAMABAD: In the search for “pecuniary gains”, a varsity in the capital had become completely “unscrupulous” as it continued to hand out degrees without addressing deficiencies pointed out by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

This was stated in a recent judgment of the Islamabad High Court which revealed how the Al-Khair University exposed itself to cheating the public at large and put lives and future of youngsters at risk by offering “substandard education” at an unapproved campus in the capital.

Above all, Justice Athar Minallah of the IHC noted that the varsity has retracted from its earlier written stance and subsequent undertakings submitted before the court, that no degrees would be awarded until deficiencies noted by the HEC were met.

“A degree issued by an unrecognised educational institution is a worthless piece of paper as has been held by the august Supreme Court,” Justice Minallah stated in its order passed on June 22.

“Offering programmes by unapproved educational institutions enables unscrupulous entrepreneurs to introduce and sell to the general public substandard education for their pecuniary gains,” he added.

He added that such an act was an antithesis to safeguarding the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 9 of the Constitution.

While on one hand, Justice Minallah noted, the HEC had exposed itself to a probe by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), on the other it had put “at risk the lives and future of the younger generation.”

The Al-Khair University had been established under the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Act 1994. However, the HEC did not allow the university to open its campuses or grant affiliation to other institutions within the territorial limits of Pakistan and AJK.

In a meeting held on March 31, 2009, the managing board of HEC decided that it would not recognise degrees issued by the varsity to students which had been admitted to the university or its affiliated institutions after April 30, 2009.

Further, the HEC on May 16, 2009, advised the AJK government to implement the commission’s decision and advise the university to fulfil the set criteria and other prescribed requirements at its campus in Bhimber, AJK.

Later on October 17, 2011, the commission granted the university conditional permission to launch degree programmes explicitly requiring that no franchised campus affiliation would be allowed anywhere in Pakistan or AJK.

Subsequently, the university’s registrar submitted an affidavit declaring that they had not admitted a student from April 30, 2009, to October 16, 2011, in any discipline and that no academic activity was conducted at varsity’s camp office in Sector I-8/4 of Islamabad.

Despite this, the university continued to advertise degree courses in various disciplines.

In response to the advertisements, the HEC directed the university to publish a corrigendum withdrawing the advertisement.

The university, however, went to court challenging the HEC order in 2012. The varsity’s petition was disposed of on September 30, 2015, after a counsel for the university gave an undertaking unequivocally stating that no degree would be awarded till the deficiencies noted by the HEC are addressed and that no fresh admission would be given till a fresh inspection is carried out.

However, following a subsequent inspection, the varsity assailed the recommendations of the inspection team through a petition in the IHC.

The university’s counsel contended that the inspection conducted were beyond what the court had directed, further, no prior notice had been given, the petitioner was treated differently, and no opportunity was given to hear the petitioner.

“The commission has no jurisdiction to interfere in the affairs of the university,” the counsel stated.

The HEC’s counsel, however, countered that the commission is vested with exclusive authority to regulate all matters relating to educational institutes.

“The petitioner university has remained contumacious and defiant,” the HEC stated, adding that it had committed fraud since the university was neither authorised to open its campuses nor grant affiliation.

“The conduct of the petitioner university has indeed remained defiant and contumacious,” Justice Minallah observed. “The students enrolled in such programs cannot claim a right that their degree or certificates be recognised.”

Justice Minallah said that no educational institution, whether established in Pakistan or abroad can lawfully open campuses or grant affiliations to other educational institutions without the express approval of the HEC.

Justice Minallah concluded that university would only be entitled to offer admissions after the HEC approves it, adding that any affiliation granted by the university to an educational institution or opening of its campuses would remain illegal unless approved by the commission.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2017.