LAHORE – Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry while heading a division bench on Tuesday heard a suo motu case about establishment of Board of Governors (BoGs) in government colleges and observed that though policy making rested with the government, courts could take notice if a policy conflicted with the constitution.
Earlier, lawyer Asad Manzoor Butt, representing students and teachers, had pleaded that the establishment of BoGs was in violation of constitution. He said the annual fee of Intermediate had increased upto Rs 86,000 and education had become inaccessible for the poor after introduction of BoGs. He said the role of principals would be diminished as the BoG was answerable only to education secretary. At this, the CJ questioned, “If the BoGs are toothless, what will be their purpose?”
The CJ had taken suo motu notice of police torture on students and teachers protesting outside Punjab Assembly in December against establishment of BoGs in 26 colleges of the province. The protestors expressed concern that the BoGs would slash number of instructors in colleges under the garb of downsizing and would raise college fees beyond students’ financial capacity. Dozens of teachers and students were injured during the protest while many others were taken into police custody and released later.
Butt suggested the court to consult senior lawyer Abid Hassan Manto about the establishment of BoGs. The bench adjourned hearing for two weeks.
The suo motive decision will not help one to give rise to a better situations, but some certain ideas needed to be maintained in order to proceed further, then after obtaining the same we would be able to grant sufficient fact in this regard.
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