HEC apologises to students for placing names on ECL

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) was informed on Tuesday that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has tendered written apologies to the students for placing their names on the Exit Control List (ECL).

A three-member SC bench consisting of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Ghulam Rabbani heard the case. HEC’s counsel Khawaja Azhar Rasheed told the court that all the students whose names were placed on the ECL had been sent written apologies.

“You should respect the educated lot. I cannot digest it from yesterday how you implicated the students. In which country of the world are scholars put behind bars,” the CJP said. The court later dismissed the petitions, after the HEC withdrew them. The HEC had filed appeals against the verdict of Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench, in which the court had ordered the removal of students’ names from the ECL.

The court had observed that when the HEC refused to provide employment opportunities to students, it had no right to impose restrictions upon their movement.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had issued directions to the authorities concerned to initiate legal action against the HEC director for placing the names of students on the ECL with the help of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). Sajid Anwar, a student of MS Engineering, had gone to South Korea for an MPhil, after entering into an agreement with the HEC to return within a specific time period. But after two years, the HEC asked him to return back without the completion of practical training and refused to provide him employment opportunities in Pakistan. He and other students were surprised when they learnt that their names had been placed on the ECL and they could not proceed abroad in connection with a scholarship or employment. staff report/app