SAHIWAL: The Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan, suspended affiliation of eight private law colleges of Sahiwal city over irregularities, financial malpractices, non-compliance of rules and regulations, violation of seat quotas and constant complaints by enrolled students.

The BZU Syndicate made the decision under the BZU Act 1975 and suspended affiliation of eight colleges, namely the Multan Law College, Command Law College, Montgomery Law College, The Limit College, Quaid-e-Azam Law College, Johar Law College, Mohammedan Law College and ILM College of Law.

There was reportedly no library and faculty staff available with these colleges.

Shoaib Rashid Khan, registrar BZU, Multan told Dawn the decision was made under a Supreme Court direction. It is said some days back, a private law college classroom collapsed but fortunately, no student was present on campus.

The affected students question how these colleges were allowed to operate

The BZU decision would affect more than 1,000 students and many students questioned how these colleges were allowed to operate for a long time if there were complaints of even bogus student registration in violation of seat quotas.

The local bar representatives said the university had taken action against all the colleges late as they were selling law degrees in a cheap way.

PROTEST: The local chapter of the Auto Rickshaw Union held a protest demonstration from the Jogi Chowk to the DC office against the higher rates of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the local market.

The protesters claimed the official consumer rate of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) was Rs212 per kg but the local gas dealers were selling gas at Rs350 to Rs400 per kg. More than 300 auto rickshaw drivers participated in the rally.

Awais Sattar, the president of the District Auto Rickshaw union, told Dawn there were 7,000 auto rickshaws in the district and all were not disturbed by the higher rates of the LPG.

He said the dealers were looting the rickshaw drivers in violation of Ogra rates.

Mr Awais said because of the higher LPG rates, the rickshaw driver had no choice but to shift the burden to the customers who did not understand the situation.

The rickshaw drivers demanded the local administration and Ogra to implement its official rates.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2022