LAHORE, Jan 23: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday issued show-cause notices to 24 unregistered educational institutions and sought explanation from them for operating unlawfully.

Issuing the notices to two other institutions, which had not given required information to the education department with regard to the standard of education being imparted by them, the court directed the 24 institutions to submit the explanation by Feb 7.

Petitioner advocate Syed Hassam Qadir through his counsel Azam Nazir Tarar had submitted to the court that the institutions had been destroying the future of thousands of students by imparting substandard professional education in different disciplines.

In the petition, he pointed out that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) through advertisements had declared two foreign institutions’ operations unlawful, besides 69 charted varsities operating outside their jurisdiction. He said another 46 institutions have been operating unlawfully, adding such institutions were also operating in other provinces as well without any lawful justification.

Comprising Justices Ch Muzammal Khan and Syed Sajjad Husain Shah, the bench issued the orders in the constitutional petition against 116 educational institutions, which had allegedly been operating illegally. The educational institutions are also accused of extending professional education in the province without having HEC recognition.

Earlier, the education secretary in a report had informed the court that 24 unregistered educational institutions were operating in Punjab, while 25 others, which were also enlisted as parties in the petition, have closed their campuses. Whereabouts of some other institutions, which had shifted their campuses, were not known, he added. However, he said district governments in the province had been directed to take action against such institutions.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted to the court that the HEC had not taken any concrete steps to restrain these institutions from functioning or closing down their unlawful operations. He added the institutions were not authorised to grant degrees or certificates to students in various cities of Punjab and Islamabad.

He asserted that the degrees and certificates awarded by these institutions would not be accepted by the HEC. The students after getting educated from such institutions would neither be able to secure any job nor get admission in any foreign institution, he added.

Submitting the institutions were mere fraud with the only aim of minting money, the counsel said the HEC had failed to frame rules and terms of evaluation.

The counsel prayed to the court to restrain all kind of functions and operations of these institutions.