ISLAMABAD, April 12: The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the Higher Education Commission would continue to discharge its functions till the time the government introduced a legislation spelling out its fate.

“The status of the HEC assigned to it under the HEC Ordinance 2002 with its functions covered by constitutional provisions namely entries at serial number 16 and 17 of the Part I and serial 7, 11 and 12 of the Part II of the Federal Legislative List shall remain intact unless the same is not changed by promulgating some legislation in this respect,” a three-judge SC bench said in an order after Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq informed it that a draft law was being prepared and before its finalisation all stakeholders, including HEC representatives and vice-chancellors of universities, would be invited.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Mohammad Sair Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani has taken up petitions challenging the government’s plan to devolve the HEC to the provinces.

The petitions have been filed by Rector of the Rippah International University Professor G.A. Miana, Director General (Islamabad Campus) of the University of Lahore Brig Mohammad Ajaeb and parliamentarians Marvi Memon of the PML-Q and Azam Swati of the JUI-F.

Former HEC chairman Professor Attaur Rehman has moved an application requesting the court to intervene in the controversy to protect the higher education sector.

The order said the March 31 notification of devolving the HEC to the provinces would have no effect on the functioning of the commission in view of the attorney general’s statement that the notification had no nexus with the ordinance.

“In case of any conflict or overlapping between the notification and the ordinance, the latter will prevail. The interim application stands disposed of in view of the statement,” the order said.

Dr Attaur Rehman said Pakistan was among a few countries where a student of any university had free access to 45,000 textbooks and 25,000 journals because the HEC paid for it. When the commission was not there, he added, no university in the country had so much repository of knowledge.

The chief justice acknowledged the fact that thousands of students getting education in foreign universities would suffer and degrees awarded by Pakistani universities would not be accepted abroad if the commission was dissolved.