PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: The provincial anti-corruption department has completed its inquiry into the irregular grant of first-year college admissions, revealing that students were admitted at merit lower than the one prescribed in the 2018/19 policy of the Sindh Electronic Centralised College and Administration Programme (SECCAP).
In its report, the investigation committee has confirmed that the Government Degree Science and Commerce College, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, has admitted 99 students on lower-than-required merit. The inquiry further revealed that some 267 admissions were granted on a suspicious basis, while some students were admitted without passing their matriculation examinations.
The inquiry committee has recommended that all the 99 unlawfully-granted admissions at the college be cancelled immediately and the affected students are transferred to other colleges based on merit.
Suspension of the college principal
Apart from the violation of the SECCAP policy, several other complaints have been lodged against the college administration owing to which the inquiry committee expanded the scope of its investigation and ordered the immediate suspension of the college principal, Professor Zubaida Nasreen.
A show-cause notice has been sent to Professor Nasreen and she has been instructed to hand over her Drawing and Disbursing Office (DDO) authority to the Director Colleges Karachi.
On being contacted by The Express Tribune, Professor Nasreen said that the deputy controller of the intermediate board Aslam Chohan had called her and demanded that the copies of 110 students, being sent to her for grading, should all be given good scores. She claimed that on her refusal to comply, Chohan wrote a letter to the secretary of universities and boards to complain about the admissions.
“If the admissions were fake, why was the chairman silent for so many months?” she questioned. “In the past, the intermediate board wanted to form an examination centre in the college, with two special classrooms where their favourite students would receive filled-in answer sheets. We didn’t allow it.”
Upon questioning, Professor Nasreen said that she was unaware of what’s happening in the college, adding that some student organisation might have carried out these admissions without her knowledge. She also denied other allegations levelled against at her.
Non-utilisation of grants
The committee also inspected the building of the college, during which it was observed that it lacked basic facilities, including drinking water. Rooms were found in a dilapidated condition, which shows that the college did not properly utilise the funds granted to it in the annual budget.
As a result, the committee has recommended conducting an internal audit of grants worth Rs2.88 million issued in lieu of 2017-2018, Rs670,000 budget issued for repair and maintenance and an additional Rs2 million granted to the college per the revised budget.
Swift action
The inquiry report of the committee recommended the immediate transfer of the entire non-teaching staff of the college and asked the Secretary of College Education to transfer several faculty members to other colleges, including Assistant Professor Muhammad Anis and lecturer Abdul Ghaffar Kalhoro.
Some 267 suspicious admissions have been identified by the committee, out of which 55 were granted in the pre-medical group, 74 in the commerce group, 38 in the general science group and 100 in the pre-engineering group.
Per sources, these enrollments were separately made on the last day of admissions. An investigation into the matter is underway.
The committee
Over complaints received against the college on February 1, 2019, the College Education Department had established an inquiry committee to probe into the matter immediately and a notification was issued by the director-general colleges Sindh professor Muhammad Saleem.
In light of written statements of teachers, together with attested and credible records obtained from the college, the committee has concluded that the college principal, Professor Nasreen is “a habitual offender and is involved in corruption, misconduct and infringement of orders.”
The Sindh High Court (SHC) had issued orders to bar the transfer of the college principal. However, the court order did not stop the College Education Department from taking administrative action against the principal.
The principal was administered a questionnaire to document any possible violation of SECCAP, illegal selling of admission seats, excessive admissions granted on reserved seats, admissions granted to ineligible and underqualified students, utilisation of budget and revised budget and threatening and harassing of teaching staff and students.
The principal, however, refused to answer the questionnaire.
Later, the committee met with the female teaching staff of the college who unanimously confirmed that all the complaints lodged against her are true. They also signed a written statement where they claimed that the assistant professor of Botany, Muhammad Anis, at the behest of the principal, threatens and physically assaults faculty members, while lecturer Abdul Ghaffar Kalhoro, laboratory assistant Shahida Mangi and watchman Muhammad Akhtar have also been involved in threatening teachers and unlawfully taking money from them.
Per the investigation report, the female teaching staff of the college said that the principal routinely allows unauthorised people in the girls’ section of the college. They added that the unauthorised people have been involved in criminal offences within the college premises, including sexually assaulting female students while enjoying the support of the principal.
As stated in the report, the inquiry committee witnessed the presence of unauthorised young men within the college premises firsthand, who fled after the committee members tried to approach them.
The committee also spoke with the male teaching staff of the college, who also wrote and signed the allegations of objectionable activities taking place in the college.
Interestingly, lecturer Abdul Ghaffar Kalhoro, against whom several allegations had been levelled by staffers, also recorded a similar statement before the committee.
While recording his statement, the DPO of the college, Haris Shoaib, accused the college principal of asking him for personal favours and using inappropriate language with him.
When approached by the committee, Shahida Mangi, a non-teaching staff member, refused to provide a written statement, while Komal Rabail Sanjrani, Rashid Nabi and Muhammad Rashid provided written statements to the committee.
The investigation report stated that the committee also met with several parents and students to record their statements. However, parents and students maintained that they were being threatened by unknown people in the college, after which they were called in the office of the Directorate General Colleges, where they recorded statements before the committee and registered their complaint against the principal, stating that the principal of the college has illegally charged them additional admission fees.
On being contacted, the acting Sindh director-general of colleges Professor Abdul Hameed Chandar shared that the report will be forwarded to the College Education Secretary soon. On being questioned regarding the report, the director said that he hadn’t gone through the report in detail yet, adding that he would be able to answer questions in a day or two after reading it.
The Intermediate Board Chairman Professor Inam Ahmed said that such admissions are generally granted near the end of the academic year and before the examinations.
“The abolition of fees for students enrolled in government institutions stops people from submitting bank challans or vouchers, therefore, it has become difficult to identify when the college granted admissions,” Inam Ahmed said.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2019.
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