PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday directed the historical Islamia College University Peshawar to offer admission to three girls on sports quota this year.

The university runs two colleges, one for girls and other for boys.

Accepting a petition of female student Mahnoor Khan, a bench comprising Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Irshad Qaisar directed the university’s administration to ensure that three seats are allocated for admission of female students on sports quota from the current year.

The petitioner’s lawyer, Ayesha Malik, said after appearance of advertisement in newspapers, her client had applied for admission to the college’s first year pre-medical class on sports quota. She said her client had also attached a certificate of her expertise in different sports. Malik said her client was denied admission on the ground that the sports seats were available at the university’s boys college only and that there were no such seats available for female students.

She said it was discrimination against girls on part of the college administration and admission committee.

The lawyer said it was also violation of the Constitution that sports quota was reserved for male students but in same institution it was not available for female students. She requested the bench to declare the said policy of the college administration unconstitutional on the ground of discrimination.

The lawyer for the college said the college lacked resources to create more seats for filling it on basis of sports quota. She said reserving seats would be difficult for the college this year and might be the same could be done from next year.

Malik said the college was resourceful as it had been admitting 200 students on self-finance basis. She added that in the same college sports quota was available for male students but female students were deprived of that right.

After completion of arguments the bench ordered fixation of three seats on sports quota for female students.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2015

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