ISLAMABAD – Setting aside objections raised by the Registrar’s Office, the Supreme Court on Monday accepted for regular hearing a petition against the devolution of the federal Ministry of Education to the provinces under the 18th Amendment and issued notices to the parties concerned. The petition was filed by senior educationists Chaudhry Sadiq Ali, former director of Model Colleges (Islamabad), and Dr Abdul Razzaque Memon, former principal of Dawood College of Engineering and Technology, Karachi.
A three-member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani was informed by petitioners’ lawyer Maqbul Elahi Malik that as a result of the devolution, 11 entities attached with the Education Ministry would be transferred to the provinces.
He said the devolution of the Education Ministry was against public as well as national interests and was a threat to the federal character of the state of Pakistan, as this is repugnant to the provisions of Objective Resolution and Article 2A. He said former education ministers Ahsan Iqbal of the PML-N and Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali of the PPP had opposed the devolution of the ministry in letters written to the prime minister and Senator Raza Rabbani. Challenging the devolution of the education ministry on 12 legal grounds, Malik requested the court to suspend the devolution of the Education Ministry to the provinces until a final decision of the petition.
SC accepts plea against devolution of Education Ministry
