Five more fall prey to fake degree hunt

Five more legislators fell prey to the fake degree hunt after verifica­tion by Punjab University on Monday.<br /> ­­

Five more legislators fell prey to the fake degree hunt after verification by Punjab University on Monday.

Punjab University had received 133 degrees, out of which 58 were sent back to the Higher Education Commission after verification.

The degrees that have been declared bogus belong to a senator and four MPAs, of whom one is a female elected on a reserved seat. Another MPA had already resigned, while the third MPA was disqualified by Lahore High Court for having fake academic credentials. The degree of the fourth MPA was declared as fake as his registration number did not exist in the university record.

Punjab University now has 78 degrees to verify until July 27th.

Earlier, a meeting was also held at the Higher Education Commission headquarters to review reports of the committee formed for the verification of degrees of legislators. A report regarding degrees' verification has also been forwarded to the National Assembly's Standing committee on Education.

The HEC was given the responsibility to verify the degrees of 736 legislators. So far the Commission has found 183 degrees to be authentic while 37 degrees have been found fake. HEC has contacted the respective universities for the verification of the remaining 516 degrees of legislators.