PESHAWAR: Regretting the ‘declining’ educational standards at the Edwards College, Peshawar, the Peshawar High Court has directed the government to take corrective measures to restore the glory of the province’s oldest college.
“The authorities at the helm of affairs are directed to
seriously look into the matter and make strenuous efforts to restore the trust
of students and their parents and revive the past glory of the oldest college
of the province,” a bench observed in the detailed verdict of the case
regarding the status of the college.
Justice Qaiser Rasheed and Justice Ahmad Ali declared that
the Edwards College was nationalized through the Privately Managed School and
Colleges (Taking Over) Regulation, 1972, which was endorsed by parliament
through the 1973 Constitution.
The bench had pronounced a short order on the two petitions
on Oct 1 dismissing a petition filed by Peshawar Diocese Bishop Humphrey Sarfraz
Peter and accepting another filed by the college’s faculty members over its
administrative status.
Bishop Humphrey Sarfaraz had requested the court to declare
the college set up in 1900 a private educational institution in light of an
earlier court judgment delivered in 2016 and to stop the government from
interfering in its affairs.
The college’s faculty members, including vice principal
Shakil Ahmad Nisar, had challenged the stand of the bishop saying all
privately-managed schools and colleges were taken over by the government in
1972.
They had requested the court to declare the college an
autonomous institution governed by the board of governors (BoG) notified in
1974.
The provincial governor had headed the BoG until Mar this
year when the Diocese committee abolished it and formed a new board headed by
the bishop.
The bench observed that the Edwardes College stood out as
the oldest educational institution of the province and remained the cradle of
knowledge and learning for over a century having produced generations of
luminaries who had served the country at the highest and important posts.
It added that students used to be vying eagerly to get
admission in this college due to its highest standard and merit but suddenly,
things had come to such an abysmal state, where the students had opted to
migrate to other colleges to save their future in view of its deteriorating
educational standards and poor results in the board and university exams.
The bench ruled that as the record unfolds, pursuant to
Para-4 of the Privately Managed Schools and Colleges (Taking Over) Regulation
1972 (Regulation no 118) from Sep 1, 1972, all private-managed colleges,
together with all property attached to them should vest in the Central
Government, if they were situated in Islamabad Capital territory and in the
provincial government, if they were situated in a province.
The court observed that admittedly, the provincial
government of the erstwhile NWFP through a notification in Jan 1974 constituted
the BoG for Edwardes College, Peshawar headed by the Governor as its chairman
and all the administrative powers to be vested in the Board. The said
notification as published in official Gazette on Apr 2, 1976.
The bench ruled that since then for four decades, all the
decisions regarding the college had been taken by the said Board including the
appointment of its principals from time-to-time. “Such power and authority of
the BoG was never called in question before any forum,” the bench ruled adding
that the government also sanctioned and released Rs 300 million as one time
grant-in-aid for the up gradation of the college to the status of a
full-fledged university.
The bench observed that the incumbent principal of the
college was also appointed by that board.
It accepted an application of the government to set aside
the earlier court judgment through which the college was declared a private
institution and ruled that a petition filed by educationist Malik Naz on the
matter would be decided afresh on its own merit.
