LAHORE – A petition was filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) challenging the dissolution of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Saturday. Petitioner Advocate Fahad Ahmed Siddiqi submitted that the objective of the HEC is to facilitate institutions of higher education.
He said that the federal government has decided to devolve and dissolve the HEC to the provinces and started consulting with provincial governments in this regard. Siddiqi said that the federal government was trying to save its money by handing over the HEC to provinces.
In this way, the federal government could save money in the upcoming budget and ask the provinces to run HEC from the money they will get from the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award. The petitioner said that the provinces have a misconception that they will get extra money for the HEC’s budget.
He submitted that the federal government has committed to the World Bank that it will allocate sufficient funds to the higher education sector to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Once the HEC is devolved, the commitment will automatically end.
Siddiqi submitted that the federal government and Implementation Commission on the 18th Constitutional Amendment misused their authority. He said that the dissolution of the HEC is based on mala fide intentions.
He requested the court to stop the respondents from dissolving the HEC and summon the Implementation Commission chairman to ask him why the HEC does not fall under the federal government.
