Drug case: Court tells AKU, student to settle the issue

If both parties fail to reach a settlement, their lawyers will proceed and take instructions from their clients.

KARACHI:

The Aga Khan University (AKU) and an expelled student who was accused of bringing narcotics to the varsity - allegedly causing the death of another student - have been told to settle the issue of the MBBS degree within two weeks.

If both parties fail to reach a settlement, the lawyers should proceed and take instructions from their clients within the stipulated time, directed Chief Justice Mushir Alam while heading the bench hearing an appeal filed by AKU.

The university had expelled eight students after the death of a student Asad Aftab due to alleged excessive consumption of narcotics. The drugs were brought to campus by the eight students in 2004. The university also decided that it would not award them degrees.

Subsequently, one of the students, K, who had allegedly played a main role in the episode, filed a lawsuit and a single bench of the Sindh High Court ordered the university to allow him to continue his education.

The university’s management, however, has appealed against the single bench’s order before the division bench.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2013.