National College of Arts Ordinance, 1985

This Ordinance gives the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore — originally established in 1958 — the legal power to award its own degrees, reconstituting it as an independent statutory body rather than an institution dependent on affiliation with another university. Section 3 makes the College a body corporate that can own property and sue or be sued in its own name. Section 4 sets its purpose as instruction, training, research and service in arts and allied disciplines at undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate level, with powers to admit and examine students, award degrees and diplomas, appoint staff, set courses of study, and affiliate with other institutions.

Section 5 requires the College's academic programmes to be comparable in standard to similar institutions (overseen by the University Grants Commission) and to use external examiners; notably, no degree can be granted unless a student has passed an examination in Islamic and Pakistan Studies, or Ethics and Pakistan Studies for non-Muslim students. Section 6 makes the President of Pakistan the College's ceremonial Patron, while Section 7 designates the Federal Minister for Education as the 'Controlling Authority' with power to preside at convocations and annul Board proceedings that breach the law. Section 8 gives the Controlling Authority visitation (inspection) powers over the College's buildings, departments and examinations.

Section 9 provides for a Principal, appointed by the Controlling Authority for up to a four-year term, as the College's academic and executive head. Section 10 establishes a large Board of Governors (16 members) drawn from bodies such as the University Grants Commission, the Ministry of Education, the University of the Punjab, the University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, the Lahore High Court, and various nominated professionals, industrialists, educationists and alumni — reflecting a deliberately broad, multi-stakeholder governance structure. Section 11 gives this Board wide executive powers, including creating academic posts, approving budgets, and disciplining staff and students, and Section 13 establishes standing Executive, Academic, Selection, and Finance and Planning Committees, whose composition and functions are further detailed in the Schedule ('First Regulations').

Section 17 establishes the College's Fund, drawing on federal grants, donations, and fee income, and Section 18 requires annual audited accounts submitted to the Federal Government. Section 19 transferred the College's pre-existing assets, liabilities, and appointments into the newly reconstituted body upon commencement.

This is a 1985 Ordinance whose text still refers to now-superseded bodies such as the University Grants Commission (replaced nationally by the Higher Education Commission in 2002); readers should check the current, updated governance arrangements for the College rather than assume the University Grants Commission's role described here is still current.