‘MBA student’s thesis was plagiarised’

Bahria University registrar responds to accusations in court.

RAWALPINDI: Registrar Bahria University and Examination Controller appeared in court for the case of a student who was not awarded an MBA degree.  Petitioner Shahid Nafees Mirza completed his MBA  in November 2009 but has yet to receive his degree.

In the hearing on Monday, university registrar Mumtaz Raza claimed that the reason for not issuing Mirza his degree was that the student’s thesis was plagiarised. Raza said that, in accordance with policy, the thesis was analysed using the new software provided by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in 2010.

The court questioned the university for giving the student verbal assurances regarding his thesis and the concerned department for clearing Mirza in internal exams. Registrar Raza maintained that since the submitted thesis was identified as being plagiarised by the HEC’s software, a degree could not be issued.

The registrar did, however, admit to certain administrative shortcomings and co-ordination failures between relevant departments.

He said that people in administrative posts responsible for creating unnecessary obstacles or providing misleading information would be held responsible.

He promised action against such people regardless of whether they were suffering from incompetence or deliberately helping the student pass in an unfair manner.

The next hearing will be on December 30. Mirza’s legal counsel Mohsin Akhtar Kayani had filed a writ petition in LHC Rawalpindi Bench, in which he maintained that the petitioner was enrolled in the year 2002 for a Master in Business Administration in Finance.

The normal period for the completion of this degree ended in 2005, but due to domestic problems, the student could not complete his research work in the prescribed time. Mirza was subsequently given an extension.

The petitioner said he successfully completed the remaining requirements for the thesis in November 2009. The concerned authority of the university approved the thesis and Deputy Director Academics confirmed that the degree would be awarded.

Later the result and degree were withheld. On July 23, Mirza filed the petition against the university. The respondent told Mirza that his thesis was plagiarised.

According to Mirza’s legal counsel, the allegation was leveled without a show-cause notice and the petitioner was not even given a hearing.

The legal counsel of the petitioner told the court that the university directed Mirza to submit an amount of Rs78,000 which Mirza deposited.
He also cleared other outstanding dues.

The counsel said in court that after completion of all programme requirements, it was the fundamental right of the petitioner to be awarded the MBA degree but the respondent had delayed the matter unnecessarily.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2010.