ISLAMABAD – Two parliamentarians filed a joint petition in the Supreme Court on Monday challenging the government’s decision to devolve the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to the provinces. The petition was filed by Senator Muhammad Azam Khan Swati and Marvi Memon under Article 184(3) of the constitution, making the federal government, through the Ministries of Law and Education, the Inter-Provincial Coordination Division and HEC, as respondents.
The petition requested the court to declare the devolution of the functions and authorities to the provinces and the ministries, departments and divisions through notification No F3(26)/2010-IC-I of March 31, 2011 unlawful and unconstitutional and, therefore, liable to reversal. The court was also requested to allow the commission to function under the authority of the HEC Ordinance, 2002, and that any action taken by the respondents contrary to the ordinance should be undone immediately.
The petition contended that devolving HEC functions would be a violation of the fundamental rights.It was contended that the devolution of HEC would devastate the higher education sector in Pakistan, since it would destroy future, as well as past investments. The petition states that the act of making HEC redundant and devolving its functions to various ministries and the provinces was illegal, unconstitutional, in violation of fundamental rights of the petitioner and void, having no legal effect.
