Staying put: Stay against shifting SM College to Kharadar extended

Directors of colleges and college buildings asked to file comments by September 10

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday extended its stay against shifting Sindh Muslim Science College from its relatively peaceful location to the restive neighbourhood of Lyari.

The bench headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, directed the directors for colleges and college buildings inspection to file their comments, explaining why the college was being shifted, by September 10.

The controversy arose when some college students went to the court last year against the government’s decision to shift the college building. They said that the Sindh government had merged Sindh Muslim (SM) Government Science College with Sindh Madressatul Islam, which was later 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 SM College to the building of the Government Degree Girls’ College in Kharadar.

On October 11, 2012, the education additional director for college inspection issued a letter to shift the college to the new premises immediately. Allegedly, the decision was taken to create space for the newly established university. But four college students, including Sarfaraz Khan Intiminanzai, took the government to the high court and challenged the decision.

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

In their plea, the students, mentioned that earlier a college in the same neighbourhood, where SM College was being shifted to, was shut down due to poor security situation. “The security situation in the neighbourhood is volatile and not conducive for academic activities,” they 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. According to them, shifting the college would waste an entire academic year for more than a hundred students.

On Wednesday, the bench extended its stay against shifting the college and directed the two directors to submit their comments by September 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2014.