PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Tuesday temporarily stopped the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government from proceeding on its order of reconstituting the board of governors for the historical Edwardes College Peshawar to replace the governor with the chief minister as its chairman.

A bench consisting of Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar and Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel issued notices to the provincial chief minister, chief secretary and other respondents, seeking their response to a petition, filed by the KP’s governor through his principal secretary, against the government’s decision regarding the Edwardes College’s BoG.

The petitioner requested the court to declare illegal and unconstitutional the provincial cabinet’s decision taken on Oct 2, 2025, and two subsequent notifications of Oct 14, 2025 issued in consequence to the move.

He contended that the impugned decision and notifications violated the relevant Supreme Court judgements delivered on May 20, 2024, and April 23, 2025.

Governor challenges move to remove him as board chairman

The petitioner requested the court to declare that the KP governor is the chairman and lawful head of the BoG of the Edwardes College Peshawar, as held by the apex court, and that the college should continue to be managed and administered strictly in accordance with the 1974 notification of BoG.

He also sought interim relief in the form of suspension of the impugned decision and all consequential actions arising from it, until the final disposal of the petition.

Lawyer Shumail Ahmad Butt appeared for the petitioner and said that the college was established over a century ago by the Christian Missionary Society (CMS) as a mission college. He said that following the promulgation of the Privately Managed Schools and Colleges (Taking Over) Regulations, 1972 (Martial Law Regulation No. 118) the management of all the privately managed colleges, including the Edwardes College, stood automatically vested in the provincial government with effect from Sep 1, 1972.

The lawyer, however, said that unlike other private institutions that were fully nationalised, Edwardes College was not completely taken over as its historical and autonomous status was preserved through the MLR 118, which maintained its governance structure.

Mr Butt contended that it was a matter of record that the management and administration of Edwardes College had, since its nationalisation in 1972, been consistently governed under the authority and supervision of the BoG constituted through a notification issued on Jan 10, 1974, which prescribed the governor as the BoG’s chairman.

He argued that upon the commencement of the Constitution, 1973, on Aug 14, 1973, the said 1972 regulations stood validly recognised under Article 269.

The counsel referred to a controversy between the Bishop of Peshawar and the provincial government a few years ago, in which the high court had rejected the former‘s plea laying claim on the management of the college.

He argued that the Supreme Court had also delivered a landmark judgement on May 20, 2024, on the matter. He added that the said verdict was challenged through review petitions, which were rejected by the apex court on Apr 23, 2025, thus the verdict attained finality.

Mr Butt argued that the Supreme Court had categorically reaffirmed that Edwardes College should be run and managed strictly on professional lines under the overall supervision of the BoG headed by the governor, as provided under the Privately Managed Schools and Colleges (Taking Over) Regulations.

He pointed out that the BoG had resolved on April 30, 2025, to appoint a permanent principal to the college and had directed the Higher Education department to issue a notification. However, he added that under pressure from the provincial government the said notification was blocked.

Against that backdrop, the lawyer said the provincial cabinet in its meeting on Oct 2, 2025, took an illegal decision, whereby it proposed to restructure the composition of BoG.

He said that this impugned action, the cabinet sought to divest the governor of his statutory authority as chairman and supervisory head of the BoG and to transfer such powers to the chief minister.

The counsel said that the two impugned notifications were issued on Oct 14 by the HED secretary through which the application of the KP Educational and Training Institutions Ordinance, 1971, was extended to the Edwardes College and a new BoG was constituted for the college excluding the governor as its chairman and replacing him with the chief minister.

He insisted that the impugned decision and notifications were unconstitutional and in direct contravention of the apex court’s judgements.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2025