Universities given less than a week

ISLAMABAD: Amidst growing speculation regarding its chairman, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Wednesday returned the degrees of 34 members of parliament and provincial assemblies to universities for verification, besides declaring the degrees of three more legislators to be bogus.

HEC has also directed all the universities to complete the process of scrutiny and verification by July 27 at all cost, warning that no extra time would be given beyond this deadline.

HEC sources told Online that a letter had been sent by HEC executive director Dr Sohail Naqvi to the vice-chancellors of all universities, including Sindh University, directing them to complete the process of verifying legislators’ degrees by the deadline.

The HEC has already refused a two-month extension sought by Sindh and Punjab universities for the purpose. The commission also expressed grave concern over the apparent ‘go-slow’ procedure adopted by the Sindh University and issued directives to the varsity to complete the job of verification without any further delay.

Sources disclosed that the HEC is now working on a comprehensive list of legislators with bogus degrees, which would be sent to the election commission for further action as per the Supreme Court’s orders.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22nd, 2010