Campus land payments issue handed to sub-panel

It will also review the humanitarian side of the issue and report to the committee

ISLAMABAD: To resolve the issue of paying owners of lands on which campuses of three varsities have been built in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a Senate panel on Monday decided to form a sub-committee for the purpose.

This was directed during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education, Professional Training, National History and Literary Heritage which met in the Parliament House on Monday. The meeting was chaired by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) women’s reserved seat Senator from the federal capital Rahila Magsi.

During the meeting, the committee reviewed the alleged delaying tactics employed by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in paying compensation to owners of the land on which the Bacha Khan University in Mardan has been built.

The mover of the petition, independent technocrat Senator Dilawar Khan said that while paying compensation, priority should be given to those who own smaller pieces of land as they cannot afford to hire lawyers to ensure payment.

He went on to say that they will not object if compensation is paid in instalments.

Representatives of the universities, including Bacha Khan University Mardan and the Abdul Wali Khan University in Charsadda, told the committee that the matter has to be resolved by the provincial government because the universities themselves do not have the requisite funds.

They added that collectively, the money that needs to be paid amounts to Rs15 billion.

The committee subsequently formed a sub-committee to resolve the issue of delays in paying compensation to landowners apart from the humanitarian side the issue and report to the committee.

The sub-committee will be led by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed and will include Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Senator Dr Mehr Taj Roghani and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi. Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Senator Barrister Ali Saif and Dilawar will assist the sub-committee.

On the issue of setting up a separate women’s campus for the Kohat University of Sciences and Technology (KUST), Senator Shammim Afridi from the newly merged tribal areas told the committee that he has transferred ownership of 190 kanals of land to the university.

The committee directed the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the education ministry to coordinate a meeting between the senator and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government to ensure that the women’s campus is built on this land and not within the male campus given the cultural sensitivity of the area.

Regarding discriminatory examination systems of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan, the committee heard a petition about injustices in the professional CA qualification. They also heard from the Institute of Chartered Accountants’ vice president about the merits and criteria for this field.

The committee, however, felt that the argument of the petitioner for being allowed additional attempts after failing the exam eight times was not tangible and the matter was disposed of.

Preserving heritage

The committee was further told that three sites have been identified for conservation under the federal government’s jurisdiction, including the Rawat Fort, the Shah Allah Ditta caves and Ban Faqeerian. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2019.