islamabad - Members of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education on Tuesday warned that they would stage a protest in front of the President House if Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Federal Urdu University Vice Chancellor was not removed from his post for having ‘fake’ degree. The meeting of NA body was held in the chair of MNA Col.(Retd) Amirullah Marwat.
The committee inquired about the removal of VC Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST) Prof. Dr Salman D. Muhammad from the post as he was accused of having a fake degree.
MNA Dr Shazia Sobia raised the issue and sought reply from Minister of State for Education and Baligh-ur-Rehman and HEC officials. “This is the situation of educational institutes where a person having a fake degree is sitting as a VC of a university and no action has been taken against him,” she said. Minister Education Baligh-ur-Rehman said that the federal ministry and HEC took the notice of the issue and declared the degree of the VC FUUAST as fake. However, he said, it was responsibility of the Karachi University (KU) to cancel the degree.
The minister said that it is not the mandate of his ministry or HEC to remove the VC from the post but only the university senate can implement the decision.
The minister said that only Karachi University can cancel the degree of VC as it is the issuing authority. He said that HEC can only verify the degree. He said that university delayed the matter in issuing cancellation notification of the degree. Executive Director (ED) HEC Dr Arshad Ali also informed the chair that VC FUUAST Prof. Dr Salman D. Muhammad has challenged the decision in Sindh High Court and Islamabad High Court (IHC) also.
The legislatures regretting the delay in removal of the VC from the post also vowed to stage a protest in front of the President House. The chair taking serious notice of the issue asked the authorities to take action against the VC if he is proven guilty of having a fake degree.
Discussing the agenda item of denial of a Women University campus by the HEC to Malkand Agency, MNA Imran Khattak pointed that there is a dire need of a university campus in the area but the HEC dropped the project.
The HEC officials informed the meeting that the project was dropped due to non-availability of funds for the university. ED HEC informed that there are already 03 universities and 04 sub-campuses in the region.
“Higher Education Department (HED) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had written a letter for the women University but as per HEC policy, the sub-campus could be constructed only at district level not at tehsil level,” he said.
Minister Baligh-ur Rehman said that federal HEC has not barred the provincial government to build the sub-campus as it can initiate the process and HEC as per its policy will support in funding. The chair recommended to KP government to establish the university with its own resources on the pattern of Women University in Swabi and Mardan.
MNA Maulana Gohar Shah on the agenda item regarding alleged irregularities in hiring of staff at Bacha Khan University said that around 52 employees were hired without any advertisement.
Representatives of the Bacha Khan University Dr Ikramullah informed the chair that the posts were created and were not the budgeted positions where visiting faculty was hired. The university official also accused the mover of seeking favour in the appointments which was denied. The chair condemned the university official act of misbehavior and absence of university VC in the meeting and him from the meeting.
The legislatures were divided on restoration of Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) students involved in violence at the campus. However the chair recommended zero-tolerance for elements involved in such act and also directed the administration at Abdul Wali Khan University to expel the students involved in Mashal Khan murder.
The committee also took serious notice of the mysterious death of a girl student of Fine Arts of Sargodha University on 14th Ramzan and directed HEC to submit its report. The committee also expressed concern over use of drugs in educational institutes.
The meeting was attended by Muhammad Nazir Khan, Dr Zulfiqar Ali Bhatti, Shaista Pervaiz, Asia Naz tanoli, Rida Khan, Amra Khan, Surraiya Asghar, Dr Imran Khattak and others.