Petition filed to restore governor’s hold over Edwardes College

PHC admits petition, hearing is expected in the next few days

PESHAWAR: In a bid to make the 119-year-old Edwardes College in Peshawar autonomous and to get its board of governors to resume working under the provincial governor, a faculty member at the college has approached the high court.

A writ petition was filed before the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday by the faculty member Ali Guhar Durrani, urging the court to make the Edwardes College an autonomous institution with all power and authority vested in its board of governors to stop political interferences in its affairs.

The plea in the petition added that the provincial governments allocated Rs300 million for the construction of various blocks at the college. Moreover, the land of the former Commissioner House of Peshawar was also allocated for the project.

The petitioner added that the college was once owned by the state and all affairs of the college were run by the K-P Governor under a committee.

However, through a conspiracy, it was converted into a privately-owned entity with its principal involved in corruption and nepotism by appointing his relatives at various posts in the college.

The Bishop of Peshawar had now set up a private committee which was interfering in the affairs of the college and damaging its historic stature.

The writ petition urged the court to put a stop to the personal committee, set up by the Bishop of Peshawar, and that all decisions made by that committee should be nullified.

It further urged the court to revive the committee created by the governor and empower this committee to decide whether it should remain a private entity or return to the government.

Furthermore, it urged the court to make the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) chief secretary, the Bishop of Peshawar, the K-P) Higher Education secretary and the principal of the Edwardes College as parties in the petition.

The writ petition has been accepted and it is expected to be heard over the next few days.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2019.