ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ordered the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to shut down illegal campuses of private universities in the country. A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, on Wednesday, heard the petitions of students, who studied in the campuses of Preston University and Al-Khair University set up in Karachi and Lahore.

The students of the Preston University and Al-Khair University had prayed before the court to direct the HEC to issue degrees to them.

The court directed the HEC to award degrees to the students who had passed out from illegal campuses through some special arrangement. It said that uniform implementation of the HEC’s policies should be ensured throughout the country.

The bench remarked that no compromise could be made on the provision of higher education to the young generation and the federal and provincial governments should fully cooperate to maintain the HEC’s standards.

The apex court noted that the issue before it was whether private universities could set up sub-campuses outside their territorial limits or not, adding that the HEC had already clarified that they could not do so and issued many alerts in this regard.

“There should be no compromise in providing quality education to the youth of the country,” the court maintained. It said the federal and provincial governments should fully cooperate in maintaining the standards of the HEC.

Ali Zafar, counsel for the students, said the court had ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to pursue action against private universities. At this, Justice Bandial responded: “The HEC has the powers. There is no need for NAB to investigate the matter.”

The judge said if the HEC was “weak” then the federal government would be ordered to amend the laws.

“The students had approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) for their degrees. The LHC declared the [sub] campuses of private universities illegal,” the counsel said. Justice Bandial stated that the LHC had given the correct verdict based on facts.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021