RAWALPINDI: In a rare case, the University of Engineering, Taxila awarded PhD degree to a deceased man on the direction of Lahore High Court (LHC).

In this unusual case, the petitioner Engineer Irfan Ahmad Qureshi was a former managing director of Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC), who applied for extension to submit his PhD thesis – a concession which has already been granted to his course-fellows - however, during the pendency of his petition, he died due to Covid-19.

LHC Justice Jawad Hassan, in a hearing subsequent to his death, directed the university to award Mr Qureshi the PhD degree.

The matter had been pending before the LHC since 2016 and was finally decided on Sept 13, 2022.

According to the petition, filed through advocate Kashif Ali Malik, the petitioner Qureshi requested that “he was denied extension of time (one year) for submission of his PhD thesis despite the fact that similarly placed students have been allowed the same relief”.

His brother, Barrister Waseem Ahmed Qureshi appeared before the LHC bench on Sept 13 and apprised the judge that the petitioner died due to Covid-19 on July 20, 2021.

He pointed out that the petitioner had clearly stated in paragraph 4 of the petition that “due to some unforeseen and unavoidable personal reasons the thesis could not be submitted within the stipulated time” therefore, he had sought extension of time vide letter written to the university’s management on Sept 2, 2015.

He stated that the case of the petitioner had been pending and was eventually turned down by the academic council in its meeting held on June 13, 2016, adding, that the council during the same meeting allowed extension to similarly placed PhD students.

The university’s Registrar Khalid Maqbool informed the court that the petitioner was not granted extension of time for submission of thesis because he did not fulfill the requirement of the same.

The court observed that the university could not give a plausible reason for granting extension to similarly placed students.

“Yet, the Syndicate of the University has the authority/mandate to confer Honorary Degrees as per Section 22(2)(xxi) of

the University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila Act, 1994,” the judge pointed out.

The court noted that “under the rule of law every citizen of this country has a right of access to justice and dispensation of justice. It is not out of place to

emphasise that the preamble of the Constitution which has propounded and highlighted the purpose and objects of the constitution.”

Justice Hassan observed that “as the petitioner has died and non-awarding of decree is presumed to exploitation under the provisions of Article 3 of the Constitution” adding that the response of the university for not extending the timeframe for submission of thesis was not satisfactory.

“The inaction of the respondents clearly violated the provisions of Article 25 of the Constitution” the court ruled.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2022