Moalims

Recommending action under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability (PEEDA) Act 2014, a Punjab University (PU) enquiry committee has decided against PU Syndicate member and Institute of Business and Information Technology (IBIT) Lecturer Shumaila Gull having 18 years of education through Master of Business and Information Technology (MBIT) degree, Pakistan Today has learnt.

After a PU assistant professor challenged the equivalence of Gull’s degree, the PU vice chancellor (VC) formed the four-member fact-finding committee, headed by Professor Dr Saleem Haider along with Professor Dr Rafaqat Ali Akbar, Dr Farah Malik and Assistant Professor Dr Shafique as its members.

According to the committee report available with Pakistan Today, Gull got a two-year B.Com degree in 2001 and enrolled herself in MBIT – a course that is for 2.5 years. The committee found that Gull tried to make her 16.5 years of education as of 18 years with the help of then IBIT director Dr Mansoor Sarwar, who declared her 16.5 years of education equivalent to an MPhil degree by “tampering with the record”.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) considers a candidate of having an MPhil degree who has 18 years of education.

It is pertinent to mention that PU has no authority to issue any equivalence certificate of a degree issued by the university itself; it can only issue equivalence certificates of degrees of universities other than itself.

The fact-finding committee has also recommended that Gull must return the financial allowances given to her on the basis of MPhil degree.

PU Spokesman Khurram Shehzad told Pakistan Today that the university will take back all financial benefits provided to Gull as she was paid Rs 5,000 monthly MPhil allowance and was doing her PhD degree from a foreign university on a PU grant. He further said that Gull and her mentor Dr Sarwar were “grilled” by the Syndicate members over their actions.

When contacted, Gull categorically rejected the allegations leveled against her.

“The degree awarded by Punjab University cannot be fake. The university administration is trying to defame me by holding illegal enquiries to teach me a lesson because I raise the issues of wrongdoings of the incumbent VC through the forum of Syndicate,” she claimed.

News Reference