LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has sought reports from the federal and provincial higher education commissions and Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) on non-issuance of degrees to the students of a private college. A petition was field by many students who completed their four-year engineering courses from a private college in 2016 but were not issued degrees. Representing the petitioners, Advocate Taffazul Haider Rizvi argued before the court that federal HEC and PEC in year 2012 permitted the college to induct students but later in 2017 it was banned by them. The counsel said that in 2012 the college made representation in public advertisements in several national newspapers which attracted the students to take admissions. He said the students paid heavy fee to the college and spent four crucial years to complete their courses. He said that under the law it was the statutory responsibility of PEC to constitute accreditation committee which could not be brushed off merely by saying that the committee was not functional. He said if there was any hold-up between HEC/PEC and the college, the students could not be made to suffer for it. Advocate Rizvi said that the students’ educational career was stigmatised and they could not start their careers due to non-issuance of degrees to them. He pointed out that the PEC failed to constitute the accreditation committee. The counsel questioned that how a ban of 2017 could be retrospectively made applicable to the students who completed engineering degrees in 2016. He requested the court to order the college administration to issue degrees to the petitioners. He prayed that the HEC be directed to recognise the same. Justice Shahid Waheed adjourned hearing till Jan 10, 2018. Verdict reserved: Justice Sajid Mahmood Sethi of Lahore High Court on Wednesday reserved the verdict on a petition challenging the construction of a multi-storey police investigation centre in old Anarkali area. Residents of Anarkali, including Khurshid Alam, Mehboob Munawar and others filed a petition challenging the construction of the investigation complex. Petitioners' counsel said that after construction of such a sensitive centre, it would put the lives of the locals in danger. He said that in recent past terrorists attacked building of law enforcement agencies resulting into loss of life and property of citizens. He said the life of the residents of this area was already miserable due to extraordinary security measures taken for the nearby office of IG and now construction of a multi-storey CIA complex would obviously entail similar security arrangements and the life of the residents will become a living hell.
