ISLAMABAD- The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday summoned chairman and registrar of Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) to appear before the court in a petition of students of Army Public College of Management Science (APCOMS) who moved the court maintaining that the said institution wasted their four years.
In their petition, the students contended that APCOMS had wasted their four years as they were enrolled in the engineering department of the institution and later they came to know that APCOMS was not registered with PEC.
After hearing the matter, a single bench of IHC comprising Justice Athar Minallah summoned chairman PEC and the registrar, directing them to appear before the court on the next hearing of the petition and submit their version.
According to details, the petitioners including Khurram Naseer Raja and other students of APCOMS were enrolled in 2004 in the engineering department but after graduation they learnt that the college was not recognised by the PEC and the degree awarded to them was merely a piece of paper.
The petitioners through their counsel Mohsin Akhtar Kayani Advocate argued before the IHC that APCOMS was established under the administrative control of Inspector General Training and Evaluation of Army. The institution allegedly deceived the students as at the time of their admission they were not informed that it was not recognised by the PEC.
Mohsin Akhtar Kayani Advocate said that his clients in 2008 approached the APCOMS management and they were told that the matter had been taken up with the PEC authorities. He maintained that despite lapse of six years, the students were still waiting for the reply from the college management and most of them were still jobless.
He told the court that APCOMS instead of any engineering institute got affiliated its engineering department with National University of Modern Language (NUML). Since the said university is not meant for engineering studies and does not possess engineering expertise, it was the reason that PEC had refused to recognise its engineering degree.
On the previous hearing, the IHC bench had directed PEC, APCOMS and NUML to submit detailed reply and had also asked the PEC to inform the court about those universities which are running unaccredited courses.
The court expressed its displeasure after it was informed that the PEC did not submit reply. The IHC bench also took notice of the situation and observed that in the present case APCOMS had been advertising public notices and soliciting admission of bona fide innocent students despite having no accreditation of the courses which were being offered. It is obvious case of deception.
The court further observed that the ignorance of PEC and Higher Education Commission (HEC) is more alarming, as they did not knew such illegality.
Later, the IHC bench directed PEC, APCOMS and HEC to take appropriate action and measures in protecting the future of the petitioners and adjourned the hearing in this matter till September 15.