SC bench converts PHC directions into recommendations

Law university case

PESHAWAR: The Supreme Court on Thursday converted the Peshawar High Court (PHC) directions to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government into recommendations regarding establishment of a law university in the province.

A three-member bench at the Supreme Court Registry in Peshawar comprising of Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Ameer Hani Muslim and Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman disposed of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s appeal against the PHC decision and converted the high court directions for establishment of the university into recommendations.

During hearing of the case, Additional Advocate General (AAG) Mian Arshad Jan, who was representing the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, submitted that the high court cannot give directions to the provincial government for establishment of the university.

H said the high court in the PHC Bar Association’s writ petition had directed the provincial government to declare the Khyber Law College as Law University and ordered the government to prepare a bill and pass it from the provincial assembly.

He submitted that it was the provincial government’s jurisdiction whether or not to establish the university. He said the law university would be established whenever the provincial government realised that it was needed. He said the government was not against the promotion of education, but it could not afford the Rs10 billion cost of upgradation of the Khyber Law College into the law university.

Arguing that there was no law university in Pakistan, he pointed out that the lack of resources was the main hurdle for the provincial government to establish the university. However, he said the provincial government could consider setting up the law university if the economic condition of the province improved.

PHC Bar Association President Fida Gul and lawyer Nasir Mehfooz stated that legal education would improve in the province and in the country as well by establishing the law university.

They said that Islamia College, Engineering College and Agriculture College of the University of Peshawar were upgraded into universities but the law faculty of the university could only become a law college. They termed this an injustice with the law profession in the province.

On January 31, 2012, the PHC had directed the provincial government to do legislation for setting up a law university in the province.

A two-member bench comprising of former PHC chief justice and now judge of Supreme Court Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk had accepted a writ petition filed by PHC Bar Association.

The PHC Bar Association, through its then general secretary Aminur Rehman Yousafzai, had challenged the non-establishment of a law university in the province and requested that the government be directed to upgrade the Khyber Law College to the status of a university.

It was pointed out in the petition that there were 18 law colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that were affiliated with University of Peshawar and producing about 2,000 law graduates per annum.

It stated that there was no law university in the province to regulate the professional affairs of the law colleges in order to provide research facilities to students and to produce PhD scholars.