LAHORE - As many as 2200 Prosecution employees have been suspected of having fake/bogus certifications on which the government has decided to get them all verified from the respective board and universities.
The story behind the scene broke following an incident wherein Muhammad Muzzamil Khan, Naib Qasid BS-1, was found having fake certificates from a school. Some reliable sources informed this reporter on Saturday that majority of the employees working with the Prosecutor General Office in Punjab might be holding bogus certificates, as their documents were never verified since their recruitment. According to documents available with The Nation, Muzammil Khan was involved in demanding money from a number of people to facilitate them while getting jobs at the Prosecutor General Office.
The documents said that Jameel, one of the job seekers, wanted to get job at the office, where he met Muzammil Khan. Jameel said that Muzammil demanded huge amount from him for his illegal support. Even though the Naib qasid was told by the applicant that he had no education or certificates required for the post, Muzammil assured Jameel of his help in that case as well. “He, after some time, produced for me a copy of the fake certificate just like himself,” Jameel added.
Jameel said that he did not pay any money for what Muzammil had done. Contrary to that, he took up the matter to the authorities concerned, for large national interests. He alleged before the authorities that Muzzmil was having a fake certificate issued in 1999 from United School System. The district education officer also took notice of the issue and confirmed that Muzammil Khan was having a fake certificate, Jameel said. The Anti corruption authorities have also initiated an inquiry against Muzammil for demanding money from a number of people for his illegal assistance at the prosecution department. But the senior officers at the office want to dump the inquiry to cover up the matter of illegal recruitments, sources say.
When this scribe contacted Director Admin Salman Akbar Chattha, he said that the previous administration recruited a number of people without any verification and, later on, the then chief minister regularised all the employees, who were recruited in 2006.
Although, he confessed, verification of the educational documents of all the employees was much needed, whenever they have decided to take any action, union of the employees stood against them and held strikes.
“This is a serious issue and the high ups have decided to get the documents verified from the concerned authorities,” said Chattha.
He further said that the promotion of the employees was also subjected to the verification of their documents, pointing out that it was mandatory under section 25 of Civil Service Act. However, the government did not have enough funds for the purpose, so the department asked its employees to get their documents verified on their own expenses, he added.