KARACHI: The legal wrangling over the possession of the Aisha Bawany Government College between the Aisha Bawany Trust and the Sindh government finally came to an end on Thursday when a bench of the Supreme Court at Islamabad allowed the provincial government to keep the custody of the college till May 2019.

The apex court bench headed by Justice Azmat Saeed ruled that the city’s prestigious college and its management “shall be run by the government of Sindh till May 31, 2019 in the same premises”.

The bench also ordered that the salaries of the college staff for the said period would be paid by the provincial government.

Apex court warns of ‘severe consequences’ if its orders violated

The apex court further ruled that the provincial government would hand over the premises of the college to the Aisha Bawany Trust on May 31, 2019 and ordered that the interim matters “shall be resolved with the trust accordingly during this period.”

The court also allowed the trust to register the college under a different name.

The Sindh government also handed over a cheque for Rs8.5 million to the Aisha Bawany Trust administration.

The provincial government was directed to hand over three of the 17 classrooms of the college to the trust by Oct 31, so that it might conduct classes for its students.

“Both sides would face severe consequences if they fail to abide by the court orders,” Justice Azmat Saeed warned.

“If the court’s orders are not upheld, contempt proceedings can be initiated against the perpetrators.”

Earlier, the Aisha Bawany Trust after obtaining an order from the local court had closed off the college and sealed its building.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) had suspended the order of the subordinate court and had ordered immediate reopening of one of the country’s oldest colleges.

However, classes did not resume until students protested and an authorised official of the SHC reopened the institution and handed over its possession to its principal.

The matter was then referred to the Supreme Court after the SHC threw out the contempt of court applications filed by Aisha Bawany Trust and provincial government against each other for defying the court orders.

A single bench headed by Justice Fahim Siddiqui had dismissed both the applications and had ruled that the matter pertaining to the ownership and possession of the Aisha Bawany College would be decided by the Supreme Court, where the matter was pending disposal.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2017