VC’s nod awaited to ‘clear’ Murad Saeed in degree controversy

PESHAWAR: The foreign visit of the vice-chancellor and acute ailment of the convener of the three-member committee may delay “clearance” of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Member National Assembly Murad Saeed in the longstanding degree controversy.

The committee has, however, completed its proceedings and is waiting for the final nod of Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Asif Khan, who is scheduled to return on May 25 from a foreign trip, reliable sources told The News.

The three-member committee, comprising Dean Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences Prof Dr Bashir Ahmad as convener and Department of Pharmacy Chairman Prof Dr Mohammad Saeed and acting Provost Saifullah as members, had been formed by the vice-chancellor after the Peshawar High Court referred the case to the Syndicate of the University of Peshawar.

The sources said the formation of the committee lacked legal grounds as the university’s syndicate and not the vice-chancellor was the right forum for making the committee or otherwise. The relevancy of the people included in the committee was also under question as none of the members of the Department of Environmental Sciences was made part of the committee, the sources said.

A division bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on March 3 had disposed the petition of PTI MNA Murad Saeed by referring it to the university syndicate.

Murad Saeed, who was elected from Swat in the 2013 general election, in his petition had challenged the cancellation of his two papers by an internal committee formed by the University of Peshawar in 2015 to look into the hasty arrangement made for the lawmakers to take the test.

He was of the opinion that the decision had been taken unilaterally as he wasn’t given a chance of personal hearing to defend his position.

The committee had declared the entire process illegal and against the rules and recommended to declare it null and void. The members of the committee were, however, of the opinion that the MNA refused to appear before the committee despite several calls.

After the recent decision by the court, the university administration instead of placing the case before the syndicate formed another committee reportedly to clear the MNA and award him the graduation degree.

According to sources, the new committee also called Murad Saeed for personal hearing, but he refused to appear before it, saying that his statement before the court should be considered as his personal statement. The committee could hold only two meetings and gathered all the ‘necessary record’ along with recommendations, which would be presented to the vice-chancellor after his arrival from abroad. The vice-chancellor would take the decision in light of the recommendation.

The sources said that the current administration of the university was in favour of the award of degree to the lawmaker. However, it was not an easy thing to do. The university cannot justify the hasty arrangement of the make-up test for the MNA in March 2015 as the relevant procedure for the purpose had not been adopted. The make-up papers could also not be declared as legal due to the time-bar as Murad Saeed was a student of the university from 2005 to 2009 and as per the university rules he had to complete his degree by 2011. The university has refused degrees to a number of students from the same department on the ground of time-bar.

There were also reports that the committee may consider a fake transcript prepared by the department’s assistant, Muzakir Shah, in March 2011 for the MNA as a legal document and recommend him for the award of the degree on its basis. “This, if done, will generate a new controversy. It would be more serious an illegality than the hasty arrangement of make-up papers in violation of rules,” a senior official told The News.

Department of Environmental Sciences Chairman Prof Dr Hizbullah told The News that the university had constituted some committee to look into the matter. “But nobody from the department has been inducted in the committee,” he added. He said that as per the record available in the department, Murad Saeed had failed two papers and did not qualify for the award of degree whatsoever.

Prof Dr Hizbullah said the ‘secretly arranged’ make-up papers had already been cancelled by the university. “The examination section can prepare degree on the basis of the record provided by the coordinator BS Programme and the chairman of the department and according to the

record available in the department, Murad Saeed failed in two papers,” Dr Hizbullah pointed out.