Laptops and merit: Petitioner referred to programme convener

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday directed the convener of the chief minister’s Youth Development Programme to investigate how Government College University shortlisted the students who received laptops from the government.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial issued the order on the petition of Asghar Javed, an MPhil (Urdu) student at the university, who alleged that students were selected not on merit but on “political grounds”. The judge ordered the petitioner to approach the convener after seven days. The petition was then disposed of. Javed submitted that according to the criterion set by the government, students should have secured 60 per cent marks in annual exams or 70 per cent in case of semester system. He claimed he had 81.27 per cent marks two semesters. He said that he had been ignored and laptops had been given to three students who did not meet the criterion.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2012.