LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Thursday suspended an order of a single bench and provisionally allowed functioning of Punjab University’s equivalence department.

The single bench comprising Justice Atir Mahmood had declared illegal the functioning of the equivalence department.

The university challenged the decision through an intra court appeal, which was heard on Thursday by a two-judge bench headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan.

PU counsel Malik Awais Khalid argued the single bench passed the impugned judgment beyond any justification. He said the university being governed by the Punjab Higher Education Commission had the power to recognise degrees. He said the power of HEC-Federal to recognise the degrees was a case of different nature.

The counsel asked the bench to set aside the impugned decision and allow functioning of the equivalence department.

The bench stayed the judgment and temporarily restored the department. The bench also issued notices to the parties for April 24.