PESHAWAR: The Pakistan People’s Party on Saturday moved the Peshawar High Court against the “decision” of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to sell the land of three public sector universities and a medical college in Mardan district to make outstanding payments to the people, whose land was acquired.

In the petition, PPP provincial president Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha raised multiple issues regarding public sector universities, including a delay in the appointment of vice chancellors and the reported closures or mergers.

He requested the court to stop the government from pressuring the administrations of universities in Mardan to sell large pieces of their land and change their master plans.

Mr Bacha also sought the court’s orders for the government to pay the outstanding amounts to the people, whose land was acquired for establishing universities and other educational institutions between 2009 and 2012, in line with the superior court orders, and not to force universities into selling their land for clearing dues.

It also seeks PHC orders for early filling of VC vacancies

He requested the court to order the early appointment of vice chancellors to 24 public sector universities in the province that had been without permanent heads for a long period.

The petitioner claimed that the government had planned to close down some universities and merge others, as reported by the media. He requested the court to intervene to prevent such moves.

Respondents in the petition, filed through senior lawyer Gohar Rehman Khattak, include the provincial government through its chief secretary, secretaries of the higher education, finance and law departments, senior members of the board of revenue, vice chancellors of the University of Engineering and Technology Mardan, director of its Amir Mohammad Khan Campus Mardan, principal of the Bacha Khan Medical College Mardan and others.

The petitioner said that large pieces of land were purchased in Mardan from 2009 to 2012 by the PPP government in the province for the establishment of the Abdul Wali Khan University, Bacha Khan Medical College, and Amir Mohammad Khan campus of the University of Agriculture Peshawar.

He added that around 400 kanals of land were later transferred from the AMK campus for the purpose of establishing the University of Engineering and Technology Mardan, leading to the curtailment of the scope of the campus projects.

The petitioner said a committee of ministers and senior officers formed by the government had reportedly directed the administrations of universities and other educational institutions in Mardan to revise their original master plans and spare a large chunk of land for sale.

He added that the process of acquiring land for setting up an educational complex in the district, including universities and medical college in question, was initiated in a transparent manner, while a PC-I was prepared for it.

The petitioner said that mostly agricultural land was acquired for the purpose and the government was trying to sell its large part for commercial purposes.

He argued that agricultural land couldn’t be utilised for commercial purposes.

The petitioner said that all universities in the province faced a financial crisis but the provincial government didn’t allocate a single penny for them in the 2024-25 budget.

He claimed that employees of several universities hadn’t received salaries for a long time with the administrations trying to meet expenses by increasing tuition fees.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2024