Law students denied results

Due to negligence by concerned authorities, a private law college was able to enrol students without having completed the formalities which led to students’ time being wasted.

After paying a substantial amount of fee, students attended LLB classes at the Islamabad Law College and also appeared in an examination organised by the Islamia University Bhawalpur last year, with which the college was affiliated.

When the students were appearing in their exams, a court case was going on between the college administration, the university and the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The university had announced the results of LLB part 1 on March 12 but withheld the results of students from this college, saying it has not fulfilled requirements and that the court had dismissed the college’s petition.

“If the college was illegal, the HEC should have written to the Federal Investigation Agency and other law enforcement agencies to ensure it was closed so that student’s time was not wasted. What is our fault in this and where should we go now,” said a student who appeared in LLB part 1 exams, the results for which are withheld.

An HEC official told Dawn the commission had issued a provisional no objection certificate (NOC) in 2014 for a few months but the college did not fulfil requirements which is why it was not given a proper NOC.

“We played our role and did not issue the college an NOC and we also directed the college administration to stop admissions,” he said, adding that it was students’ responsibility to check the status of the college they are enrolling into.

When asked, spokesperson for said university, Shahzad Khalid said the university had withheld results when the Islamabad High Court had decided against the college. After the court’s decision, the university and the HEC did not devise a way out for the 209 students of the college.

Principal of the college, Attiqur Rehman, who is a lawyer when asked, said “efforts” were being made to get the results from the university.

Asked why fees were collected from students and why they were enrolled when the college had not fulfilled requirements, he could not give any satisfactory answers.

Convocation at Arid University

The Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) held its 18th graduation ceremony on Thursday in which 2,820 students were awarded degrees and 59 were decorated with medals.

During the event, 43 graduates were given gold medals, 8 were given silver medals and just as many were awarded bronze medals while 1,785 postgraduate, 1,000 undergraduate and 35 PhD graduates were awarded their degrees. Two students were also awarded gold medals sponsored by the Bank of Punjab and a student of the Literacy Centre was also given a gold medal.

Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed was the chief guest at the event and said that the adoption of modern agriculture practices accompanied by trained manpower will help improve living standards and will also produce quality items for export. He advised students to make practical endeavours with zeal.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2017