SU postpones LLB exams to punish students for cheating

Candidates gather outside Hyderabad Press Club to protest against move

HYDERABAD: Penalising the Bachelors of Law [LLB] students for alleged rampant cheating and impersonation in the annual examinations, Sindh University [SU] postponed the exams on Saturday.

Some 6,377 candidates in eight examination centres of seven affiliated colleges in Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur, Dadu and Matiari districts were appearing in the papers, which started on May 12.

The action, which is said to be unprecedented, entailed protests by the candidates who gathered outside Hyderabad Press Club to vent their outrage. The Sindh High Court Bar Association [SHCBA], Hyderabad, also condemned the move, asking SU to continue the exams as per the schedule.



"The ongoing LLB annual examinations in all [the] affiliated colleges of Sindh University have been postponed after evidences of impersonation and complaints of copy cases," SU Public Relations Officer Nadir Mugheri said in a statement.

Mugheri referred to Exams Controller Ghulam Murtaza Siyal who received 'a lot of complaints of increasing cheating trends'. As many as 460 cheating cases and 18 of impersonation were reported in the eight centres, according to a list shared by Mugheri.

The highest number of candidates caught violating the code of exams was at Government Nazareth Girls College, Hyderabad, centre with some 161 cases of copying and eight of fake candidates. Another 136 candidates were booked in NA Model School [Old Campus], Hyderabad, and 77 at Government SS Arts and Commerce College, Hyderabad.



A total of 2,962 students were appearing in LLB Part I exams, 2,119 in LLB Part II and 1,296 in LLB Part III. More than half of these students are enrolled in the two law colleges in Hyderabad district - 2,464 at Jinnah Law College and 1,406 at Sindh Law College.

The students had to appear in two papers of Part I, three of Part II and four of Part III before the postponement. "The vice-chancellor will convene a meeting with the principals of concerned colleges … [and] he will issue directives to ensure stopping the unfair means in exams," said Mugheri. "They [principals] will have to give in black and white that they won't let such things happen in [the] future."



It is uncertain whether the SU will constitute an inquiry committee to probe the involvement of the colleges' teachers in the unfair practices during exams. On Saturday, LLB part II's paper, law of transfer of property, was postponed. Two papers of part one and two have been postponed.

Cloaked disclosures

"We are going to issue the list of those military [officers], police officers, [bureaucrats] and other powerful people who have been caught in impersonation during law examinations," Mugheri wrote on the SU's Whatsapp group, titled 'Sindh University News.'

However, he later told The Express Tribune over the phone that the controller exams may only be able to share the roll numbers of these candidates and not their names and that too on Monday, May 22.
SHCBA's reaction



"[We] … unanimously condemn, reject such illegal, unlawful decision of [the] administration of Sindh University and demand that the examinations should continue as per the schedule," reads a resolution passed by SHCBA Hyderabad's managing committee after a meeting.

The meeting, chaired by SHCBA, Hyderabad, President Ayaz Hussain Tunio, also took exception to the sudden postponement without informing the law colleges in advance. The legal fraternity warned that if their demand is not accepted, the association will provide legal support to the candidates.

"… University of Sindh on mere allegations [and] rumours of copy cases [should] not play with the future of poor students of law," the resolution added. Sindh Bar Council's [SBC] member, Advocate Fazal Qadir Memon, also criticised the SU's decision and assured the candidates of the SBC's support.

Candidates protest

The protesters decried what they described as collective punishment meted out to all the LLB students for the unfair practices observed at some of the centres. "The papers should have been deferred at the centres where high number of [copying] and impersonation cases had occurred," said Tanveer Sahito, a protesting candidate.



Another final year student, who requested anonymity, claimed that the administration has geared into action because more than 100 fake students, who sat in the exams on behalf of influential people, were caught.

The students urged Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair to take notice and direct the SU's VC to resume the exams.