RTI request follows misconduct charge

Registrar says probe had followed receipt of complaint.

LAHORE: The Punjab University has found a former professor guilty of misuse of authority in an inquiry conducted after he had requested release of information on faculty who continue to occupy official residences after their retirement, amongst other things, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The request filed by Dr Shaukat Ali, former chairman of the Punjab University Executive Club and a member of the university syndicate, under the Right to Information Act (RTA) of 2013 also sought information on employees hired on contract whose services were later regularised, expenditure on repair and construction at the PU vice chancellor’s house, lease holders of university-owned site, the PU Jhelum sub-campus property and settlement of disputes at a PU Employees’ Housing Scheme.

A document available with the Tribune states that the request was submitted with the university on January 9, 2015. An inquiry was conducted against Dr Ali and he was found guilty of misuse of authority 10 days after his RTI request on January 19, 2015. The complaint was received the same day.

The complainant, a junior clerk, had been terminated after an inquiry by a committee including Ali found him guilty of corruption about a year ago. The clerk was re-hired by the university after Dr Ali’s retirement.

Additional Registrar Dr Kamran Abid, a member of the inquiry committee, said he was unaware of any RTI request filed by Dr Ali. He said a complaint had been received against the Dr Ali so the university was bound by the law to hold an inquiry. “He was found to have misused his authority as chairman of the Executive Club,” he said.

Under the RTI law, any public body is bound to respond to a request for information within 14 days.

Punjab Information Commissioner Mukhtar Ahmad Ali said if the former professor approached them with the matter the commission could issue directions for the university to release the information.

He said action could also be taken against the university if the professor could prove that the inquiry was ordered against him because of the RTI request.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2015.