News
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
HEC devolution dominates NA proceedings
By Tanveer Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: The raging issue of the devolution of Higher Education Commission (HEC) dominated the proceedings of the National Assembly on Tuesday as members from both sides of the divide looked with suspicion at the efforts against HEC’s devolution to provinces, which they believed was part of a wider conspiracy against the provincial autonomy.
Almost all the members from various parliamentary parties were unanimous in their views and supported the devolution of HEC and said that vested interests had become active to sabotage the 18th Constitutional Amendment.
Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination, Raza Rabbani, usually a calm and quite character, who is also the chairman of Implementation Commission on 18th and 19th Amendment, sounded bitter when he spoke at length on the HEC’s devolution.
Right in the middle of his speech on the issue, he received the news that the Supreme Court (SC) had given a verdict in favour of maintaining a status quo in the HEC case. “The constitution ensures trichotomy of powers and if parliament is stopped from legislation it will add a new chapter to the country’s history,” Rabbani remarked in his instant reaction to the SC’s verdict.
He said that parliament was the custodian of 18th and 19th amendments and would defend its right of legislation if it was stopped from the discharge of its constitutional functions.
Earlier on a point of order, raised by MQM’s Iqbal Qadri on HEC’s devolution,
Rabbani said that issues on HEC’s devolution started raising heads when some elements politicised the issue despite the government’s assurance about the devolution.
He informed the House that meetings were held with the chairman and officials of HEC besides vice chancellors of various universities and they were told that HEC would be tailored in the light of 18th and 19th amendments.
However, he pointed out that pre-emptive steps taken by these elements had created confusion and fear about it.
He reiterated that devolution of the HEC did not imply that its lifespan was over. “In fact, it will continue to function,” he reminded.
“The only difference will be in the routing of funds through a provincial government instead of the present practice that the federal government releases funds to it,” he declared.
Rabbani also assured the House that the students studying abroad on HEC’s scholarships would not be affected at all.
PPP-Sherpao chief, Aftab Ahmed Khan Shepao, rejected the perception that the provinces were not capable of handling the devolved subjects.
He attributed the controversy on the HEC’s devolution to the elements who had made degrees of some parliamentarians a contentious issue. He said that 18th Amendment was the product of all parliamentary parties’ consensus on the provincial autonomy as well as the devolution of subject of education to the provinces.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk