Tug-of-war: UoP to retain control of five academic centres

PHC says govt can take over after creating legislation under 18 Amendment.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has ordered that the five academic study centres should be under the jurisdiction of University of Peshawar (UoP) till the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government creates legislation under the 18th Amendment to take charge.

The five centres include the Area Study Centre (Russia, China and Central Asia), Pakistan Study Centre, National Centre of Excellence in Geology, Centre of Excellence of Physical Chemistry and Sheikh Zayed Islamic Centre.

The order was issued by Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Asadullah Khan Chamkani during a petition’s hearing. In the petition, the lecturers have demanded these centres not be handed over to the provincial government.

Advocate Qazi Muhammad Anwar, counsel of petitioner Dr Parvez Iqbal Khan, told the court the university had issued a notification on July 21, 2011 stating these five centres would be under its jurisdiction regardless of the 18th Amendment.

However, Anwar said, the provincial government then ordered that these centres will come under its authority, after which the UoP administration withdrew the previous notification.

However, Anwar said, before the passage of the Constitution (18th Amendment) Act, 2010 and even until March 31, 2011 the petitioners and hundreds of other employees were serving under the Federal Ministry of Education.

On August 18, 2011, the provincial government issued a notification directing UoP to withdraw its earlier notification, shared the petitioner’s counsel. He added on August 19, the university administration withdrew its notification regarding the management of the academic centres.

Additional Advocate General (AAG) Waqar Ahmad Khan told the bench that after the 18th Amendment, these centres have to be controlled directly by the provincial government. The issue has been discussed in a provincial cabinet meeting and soon legislation in these regard will be completed, added the AAG.

The court then ordered the five centres shall remain in the direct control of UoP till the provincial government makes legislation which allows for their handover to the government.

According to the website of the Area Study Centre, it was established under a federal act in 1975 and become functional in April 1978. The mandate of this centre, a teaching and research institute, has been to impart knowledge and to research the land and people of Central Asia. The government later added teaching and research on Russian Federation and People’s Republic of China as well.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2014.