ccess to education is a fundamental right. Lack of suitable accommodation can be a hindrance to the promotion of education.

A writ petition was recently filed before the Islamabad High Court. It was triggered by a series of forced evictions from privately run hostels. These evictions came as a result of the Capital Development Authority’s sealing of privately run hostels situated in residential areas all over the capital.

The Federal Universities Ordinance of 2002, among other laws, stipulates that universities are under an obligation to ensure that their students are provided sufficient accommodation on their campuses. Section 4 Clause XXIII specifically states that the universities must “provide for the residence of the students of the University and the colleges, to institute and maintain halls of residence and to approve or license hostels and lodging…”

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan was created in 2002 through the HEC Ordinance with the responsibility to ensure funding, oversee, regulate and accredit the higher education institutions in the country. The Higher Education Commission Ordinance of 2002 in its Section 10 grants ample powers to the HEC to formulate policies and facilitate universities in order to fulfil their objectives of higher education.

The HEC has over the years formulated various policies to cater to the objective of promotion and development of higher education in the country. For instance, the Guidelines for the Establishment of a New University or Institution of Higher Education were made in accordance with the Education Sector Reforms: Strategic Plan 2001-2004 and the National Education Policy 1998-2010, as well as in recognition of the mandate in Section 10(1)(d) of the 2002 Ordinance, which states that HEC may conduct evaluation, improvement and promotion of higher education, research and development.

With CDA’s action to seal the hostels, the students were left stranded. The Islamabad High Court, hearing the writ petition filed by students who were forcibly evicted, issued directions for the HEC chairman to give the students a hearing.

Paragraph 6.1.1 of these guidelines states that universities are required to submit details, including hostel facilities for students. Another such policy is the 2021 Policy for Students with Disabilities at Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan.

This policy, while listing the various ways in which disabled students must be accommodated, also obligates the provision of residential and/ or on-campus housing related accommodations for them. In its Paragraph 6.3 it states that the higher education institutions must ensure the provision of on-campus residential facilities and hostel to students with disabilities. It further goes on to state that in case of large universities with numerous hostel facilities, it is advised that special rooms be allocated to people with disabilities with wash rooms, privacy and other necessary arrangements.

All these policies apply to the universities that have been listed in the schedule attached to the HEC Ordinance as well as any new universities that are set up and approved by the HEC. This means that all universities seeking approval to provide higher education must also provide student accommodation or at least approve hostels that are to accommodate them. However, in the recent writ petition before the Islamabad High Court it is noted that only five out of the 35 universities approved and set up in Islamabad over the last two decades have taken such steps.

As a result, students are forced to take residence in private hostels some of which are located in residential areas. The CDA’s sealing of these hostels has left the students stranded. The Islamabad high Court in its order during the preliminary hearing of the writ petition filed by students who were forcibly evicted, issued directions for the HEC chairman to give a hearing to the students and redress their grievances.

The uncertainty of accommodation can discourage many students not to travel from their home towns in pursuit of higher education. As a result, some of the students from remote areas could lose accessible higher education.

The writer is an advocate of the high court, a founding partner at Lex Mercatoria and a visiting teacher at Bahria University’s Law Department