MULTAN: The Multan bench of Lahore High Court on Wednesday directed the administration of the Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design (PIFD) to justify its decision to close its constituent colleges till May 18.

As per details, college staffers Reema Baig, Yasir Hanif, Faiza Saleem, Robina Ahmed, Farhan Akhtar Bhatti, Zuhaib Abbas, Muhammad Hanif and Muhammad Shahid lodged a petition with the court against the federation of Pakistan, president, ministries of commerce and finance, PIFD vice chancellor, registrar, members senate committee, members special committee on constituent colleges, College of Design Multan (CDM) and Higher Education Commission.

The petitioners said they are the staff members of the CMD which is one of the constituent colleges of the PIFD. The colleges were established to expand arts and design education to the underprivileged and far-flung areas of the country.

They stated that colleges were set up with the assistance of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and commerce ministry in Islamabad, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Multan and Quetta.

They said at that time PIFD was operating with a few stitching machines and its premises consisted of two and a half rooms in Lahore. But with the establishment of these colleges the PIFD has become a degree-awarding institution after Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design Act 2011 was passed by the parliament and the status of the constituent colleges was defined in it.

They said the constituent colleges were established in rented-buildings while the institute got a government-owned building in Lahore.

They said the CDM was allowed to process the admission for four-year degree programme while for two more years the college was allowed to offer admission.

They said initially Rs500 million were issued to PIFD for basic infrastructure to establish the colleges.

They claimed that the funds of the colleges had been withheld since 2013 and were invested in various banks by the PIFD.

They said admission process for four-year degree programme was stopped by the PIFD without any reason and any prior permission of the [PIFD] senate while the students who were already studying in the CDM, were called to Lahore to complete their studies.

“A two-year associate degree was announced in 2014 and after the completion of tests, interviews and merit determination, the PIFD disallowed the colleges to continue the process of admission,” the petition stated.

It said the PIFD has continuously been avoiding making service structure (rules and regulations) of the employees of CDM for the last five years. The renewal of the contract had also been pending for three years contrary to the employees of PIFD.

It said a meeting was called and chaired by the president (chancellor) on Aug 4, 2015 in which the PIFD VC as secretary of the senate presented agenda under item No. 5, according to which, the senate decided to close down all the [constituent] colleges and transfer the existing students to main Lahore campus despite the fact that the senate have no such authority while the decision was taken without consulting the PIFD syndicate.

It stated that no specific provision in the PIFD Act 2011 is available to allow the senate to close the constituent colleges as the colleges are the part of the act which was approved by the parliament.

They demanded that the court set aside the decision of senate while terming it illegal.

Counsel for the petitioners Advocate Khubaib Bukhari said Justice Sajid Mehmood directed the respondents’ counsel to justify whether PIFD senate has the powers to close down its own constituent colleges which are its integral part without amending the PIFD Act 2011 while fixing May 18 as next date of hearing of the case.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2017