LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday issued notices to the Punjab government, the Higher Education Department and other respondents on a petition challenging a decision to remove the word ‘university’ from the names of six public-sector universities and restore their previous status as ‘college’.
Justice Abid Hussain Chattha took up the petition filed by Raheela Murtaza, a student at the Government Sadiq College for Women (University), Bahawalpur.
Advocate Aftab Mubarik appeared on behalf of the petitioner and presented his initial arguments.
He pointed out that under the Public Sector Universities (Amendment) Act 2026 and a subsequent notification issued by the Higher Education Department on Oct 23, 2026, the word “university” was removed from the names of six institutions.
He argued that the amendment arbitrarily downgraded the nomenclature of the institutions without consulting their stakeholders, including vice chancellors, faculty members, academic bodies and students.
He contended that the decision could adversely affect the academic standing, international recognition, research records, global rankings and degree verification of thousands of current and former students.
The counsel pleaded that the change could also create complications for graduates seeking employment, higher education and immigration-related credential verification abroad, as their degrees and academic records carry the previous university names.
He said the government failed to demonstrate any tangible academic benefit from the change, whereas the financial and professional consequences would be borne by students.
He claimed that the vice chancellors of the six affected universities had jointly opposed the legislation.
Advocate Mubarik asked the court to declare the impugned amendment unconstitutional and illegal to the extent of change in nomenclature of the affected universities.
As an interim relief, he urged the court to immediately suspend the impugned decision of the government.
However, Justice Chattha turned down the request and issued notices to the respondents for submission of replies by Jan 18, 2027.
Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2026
