Bogus HSSC part-I results: Former Pindi education board head cleared of charges

Investigators recommended departmental action against former chief, criminal action against four others.

RAWALPINDI: The former Rawalpindi education board chairperson has been cleared of all criminal liabilities in the preparation of fake results for Intermediate part-I examination.

The three-member Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) team cleared the former board chief in a report submitted to a trial court last month, according to the report.

In their investigation, ACE Deputy Director Syed Sajjad Shah Bukhari, Technical Assistant Director Muhammad Irfan Maqbool Bhutta and Circle Officer Khalid Hussain Tarar found no criminal evidence against former Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) chairperson Dr Muhammad Qasim in the faulty results for the objective papers of Intermediate part-I examinations in 2011.

However, the investigation team recommended departmental action against Dr Qasim for his weak supervision and command over staffers involved in preparing the faulty results.

The ACE team charged former Rawalpindi BISE controller Amjad Iqbal, system analyst Muhammad Afzal Bhatti, data processing officer Muhammad Sarfraz Ahmed and computer programmer Asif Masood with preparing fictitious results.

Departmental action is already underway against the former chairperson and other accused officials.

Last October, the BISE management was directed to recheck the Intermediate Part-I annual examination  results after numerous complaints of mistakes, apparently due to online registration were reported. A month later, Dr Qasim informed the Higher Education Department that fake results had been prepared and sought input on further action.

All officials charged with fraud and cheating are in jail except for the former controller, who obtained bail after arrest from the Lahore High Court in May.

The dubious results led to the cancellation of objective paper results and the announcement of the Intermediate Part-I result without the objective portion.

The announcement, inordinately delayed till December, sparked protests from students who set fire to the chairperson’s office.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2012.