MUZAFFARABAD, July 8: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Bar Council has decided not to recognize the private sector Al Khair University or issue advocacy licences to its law graduates.

The unanimous decision was taken by the council members at a recently held meeting presided over by its Vice-Chairman, Haji Mohammad Ashraf, said a handout issued here on Wednesday.

Al Khair University was established by an Act of the AJK Legislative Assembly in 1994, with the then prime minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum as its chancellor and Prof Parishan Khattak as vice-chancellor.

Later, however, an ownership dispute arose between the Al Khair University's pro-chancellor Prof Bashir Goraya and Sardar Abdul Qayyum and Prof ParishanKhattak. The dispute is pending in the AJK superior judiciary.

Even 10 years after its 'establishment' the varsity is without a main campus in AJK and is also accused frequently of 'selling the degrees'. The handout said the bar council had detailed its legal education committee to physically check whether any formal campus of the Al Khair University existed anywhere in AJK.

However, the committee did not find any campus or any other place where classes could be held or students delivered lectures regularly, it added. Owing to the situation, the council was constrained to decide that neither it would accept the Al Khair University nor issue the advocacy licences to its graduates, the handout said.

It said the meeting also approved the constitution of an anti-corruption committee comprising the council members from different districts. These members would investigate into corruption complaints in their respective areas and submit reports to the council for further necessary action to bring the alleged culprits to justice.

The meeting congratulated the vice-chairman for getting office accommodation as well as a permanent annual grant of Rs500,000 for the council from the government and also expressed its gratitude to AJK Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat in this regard.

The government, it stressed, should grant more financial and administrative autonomy to the judiciary so that it could discharge its functions more effectively.