Punjab government finally wakes up to college fees scandal

Fee deposits of 12 colleges not credited to public exchequer for 8 years.

FAISALABAD: The Punjab government has taken notice of the millions of rupees in college fees from 12 Faisalabad institutions that have not been submitted in the public exchequer for eight years.

The fee scandal surfaced recently during an audit by the government.

The provincial government has issued strict directives to the administrations of 12 colleges in the district to submit their fees to public exchequer as soon as possible. The matter has been handed over to the public accounts committee (PAC), which has launched a probe into the matter. The directorate of public instructions (DPI) colleges and higher education deputy secretary have been appointed as inquiry officers. “We will be going through the financial records of all of these institutions for the past decade and submit individual reports of their dealings with the provincial government,” DPI Sohail Ikram said.

The inquiry officers have been asked to submit a portion of the money collected by the colleges in admission fees to the public exchequer. The investigation officers have warned that strict action will be taken against any college official found taking kickbacks or in the case of any corruption.

The Faisalabad district coordination officer (DCO) has been accused by several college administrators of ordering the colleges to submit their tuition and admission fees in college accounts rather than with the public exchequer. “We are told that all fee accounts were not to be forwarded to the public exchequer but to the college account.  We were only following orders,” said Government College for Women Ghulam Muhammad Abad administrator Palvashe Noorani.

The inquiry into the colleges has led to large scale protests by teachers and students.

Addressing the media, director colleges, Ghulam Muhammad Jhagar, said that every single penny from college accounts collected in fee money would be submitted in the public exchequer. “Rs140 million has been withdrawn from the college accounts and submitted in the public exchequer already,” he said. He said that profit money in this regard amounted to at least Rs20 million, which will now be submitted within 8 days.

According to government officials, the boards of governors of the 12 implicated colleges in the district were established in 2002. These colleges include the Government College of Science, Government College Samnabad, Government College Satyiana Road, Government College for Women People?s Colony number 2, Government College for Women D-Type Colony, Government College of Commerce, Government College Municipal Degree College, Government College for Women Madina Town, Government College for Women Karkhana Bazaar, Government College for Women Ghulam Muhammad Abad, Government College for Women Gulshan Colony and Government College for Women Gulistan Colony.

All monetary records of the listed colleges dating back to 2002 have been seized and sent to the provincial government.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2010.