PHC stays construction in historical ICU building

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday stayed new construction in the historical building of Islamia College University.

A division bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Ahmad Ali stayed the construction in the university till October 8 and sought comments from the university administration and government.

The bench issued the stay order in the petition filed by Isa Khan, a senior lawyer, against demolition of the old historic building of Islamia College and for construction of a community center.

The bench clubbed the case with another writ petition by a citizen, seeking an order to stop construction of residence for the vice-chancellor of Islamia College University (ICU), community centre and a gym in the varsity as these acts of changing the view of the historical building is illegal.

Noorul Haq, a resident of Peshawar, had filed the petition through his lawyer Abbas Khan Sangeen.

He stated that the new master plan designed to construct new buildings at the ICU was illegal and violated the KP Antiquity Act, 2016 and Unesco protocols.

The petitioner submitted the new master plan designed for putting up new buildings at the ICU and stated that the construction of a residence for the vice-chancellor, community centre and gym were also declared as unnecessary in the ICU.

He said the director of the Museums and Archaeology had also sent a letter to the vice-chancellor and opposed the construction in the ICU.

The PHC had already admitted the second writ petition for a full hearing, which had challenged the massive construction at the historic Islamia College University, Peshawar, which, the petitioner believed, was violation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Antiquity Act, 2016.

The citizen requested the court to direct the respondents, including the vice-chancellor and provincial government, not to change the historical structure, view and originality of the ICU building.

IMSciences, Sybrid sign MoU

Institute of Management Sciences has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Sybrid (Private) Limited, a Lakson Group Company.

The Director IMSciences, Dr Muhammad Mohsin Khan, and Chief Executive Officer Sybrid, Ather Imran, signed the pact.

The MoU intends to foster academia - industry linkages and both the organisations have decided to collaborate in the areas of research, business case development, students’ induction, entrepreneurship and partnerships in the areas of micro and Islamic finance.

Sybrid will facilitate faculty and students of IMSciences in the aforementioned areas and IMSciences will facilitate the Lakson Group in general and Sybrid in particular in terms of provision of quality human resources.Both the organisations will work jointly on mutually beneficial collaborative projects.