PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Thursday expressed concern over financial crisis in public sector universities in the province and directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary to hold meeting of all stakeholders including relevant secretaries for addressing those issues.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Farah Jamshed ordered that a report should be prepared after the meeting and the same should be submitted to the court. The bench also summoned the chairman of Higher Education Commission (HEC) on May 5, the next date of hearing of a petition filed against the continuous delay in payment of pension and arrears to retired staff of University of Peshawar (UoP).

The petition has been filed by Dr Nasrullah Jan and some other former employees of the university. The bench observed that a comprehensive strategy needed to be devised to tackle the situation.

The petitioners’ counsel Nazir Ahmad stated that universities were currently suffering from a severe financial crisis and lacked resources even for basic needs. He said that retired employees of the university were facing delay in payment of their pensions as well as arrears.

Vice-chancellor says UoP facing a shortfall of Rs2.07 billion

UoP Vice-chancellor Dr Johar Ali, appeared along with his counsel Wasimud Din Khattak and deputy registrar Riaz Ali. He informed the bench that the university was facing a shortfall of Rs2.07 billion and additional funds from the federal government were essential.

He said that resources were not even available for paying teachers’ salaries and pensions, and there was a constant fear of securing funds on a daily basis. The court was informed that 25,000 students were currently enrolled at the university, while the financial crisis intensified.

The bench also expressed concern over increasing fee, observing that high fees were beyond the affordability of ordinary students. It was suggested that fees should be collected from those, who could afford them, while the government should allocate a budget for students in need and provide scholarships to them.

When the bench questioned the ‘declining standard’ of the university and the reasons behind it, the vice-chancellor claimed that University of Peshawar was among the top eight universities of the country.

The bench observed that it would be appropriate that all relevant authorities, through mutual consultation, prepare a comprehensive report containing actionable proposals to overcome the current financial deficits, resource shortages and other challenges faced by the universities.

An additional secretary of higher education department informed the bench that funds were being released to universities under a formula and that meetings were being held in this regard.

The bench observed that if measures were being taken, their results should also be visible.

Last year, on the order of the court, the university had notified an internal dispute resolution committee to examine and address issues of various teachers. UoP through its vice-chancellor, in its comments to the petition, contended that the plea was not maintainable and it might be dismissed.

It had stated that the university would pay the outstanding amount of commutation/arrears to the petitioners as and when funds received from the provincial government and Higher Education Commission.

It was stated that non-payment of arrears was not wilful or intentional rather the university was unable to pay the same to the pensioners including the petitioners due to severe financial constraints faced by it.

Moreover, the provincial government, in one of the previous hearings, was of the opinion that under Section 6 (3) of KP Universities Act, 2012, public sector universities were independent institutions, therefore, those didn’t deserve any share from the public fund.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2026