Court stays shifting of Sindh Muslim College

The authorities want to shift the college to Government Degree Girls’ College in Kharadar.

KARACHI: For now, the students of SM college can rejoice. The Sindh High Court has suspended the notification to shift the college to another building in a nearby neighbourhood.

The college students had gone to court against the government’s decision to shift the college building. The Sindh government had earlier merged the Sindh Muslim (SM) Government Science College with Sindh Madressatul Islam, which was recently given the status of a university. Once the university’s management took control of the administrative affairs of the college, it decided to shift the physical assets and staff of the SM college to the building of Government Degree Girls’ College in Kharadar.

On October 11, the education additional director for college inspection issued a letter to shift the college to the new premises immediately. Reportedly, the decision was taken to create space for the newly pronounced university. But four college students, including Sarfaraz Khan Intiminanzai, took the government to Sindh High Court challenging the decision.

The petitioners claimed that shifting the college during an ongoing session would seriously affect 1,500 students studying at the campus. Moreover, the new college building allocated was not even enough to accommodate the staff and students.



Earlier, a college in the same neighbourhood, where the SM college was to be shifted, was shut down due to poor security situation. “The security situation in the neighbourhood is volatile and not conducive for academic activities,” the petitioners’ lawyer, Malik Naeem Iqbal, argued. The students appealed to the court to set aside the letter ordering the college to be shifted and stay the process until the petition was decided. On Tuesday, as the matter came up for hearing, Iqbal reiterated that shifting the college would waste the whole academic year of hundreds of students.

After hearing the arguments, the SHC division bench headed by Chief Justice Mushir Alam suspended the order to shift the college till the next date. The judges directed the provincial law officer to file comments of the Sindh governor, chief secretary, education secretary and regional director for colleges. The provincial law officer was ordered to file their comments within two weeks.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2012.