Karachi university BCom Regular Exams 2009 schedule

KU announced BCom Regular Annual Exams schedule
Karachi, Dec 08: The Controller of Examinations, University of Karachi (KU) has announced that the B.Com. (Part I & II) Regular Annual Examinations-2009 will commence from December 11, 2009 and continue till January 5, 2010.

The examinations will be conducted from 2 pm to 5 pm (2:30 pm 5:30 pm on Fridays). A total of 38,320 candidates will appear in the examinations that will include 26211 male and 12109 female candidates.

Male candidates will take their exams at 43 centres at KU while the female candidates will appear at 17 centres in various city colleges.

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Letter against Japanese professor termed baseless
Karachi: A mysterious letter sent to the Higher Education Commission (HEC), ostensibly in order to create a controversy regarding a professor from Japan, has been a termed as a "completely baseless conspiracy" by senior professors of the University of Karachi (KU).

The letter, signed by someone called Saeed Ahmed, claimed that Management Sciences Dean Dr Abuzar Wajidi and Dr Fateh Muhammad Burfat had recommended Prof. Sai Kurasawa from the Aichi Gakusen University of Japan to act as a referee to the KU PhD students despite the fact that Prof. Kurosawa was himself not a PhD.

The letter had claimed that Prof. Kurasawa was born in India, brought up and educated in Dhaka and then moved to Japan, obtained Japanese citizenship and assumed a local name. His real name, according to the letter, was Syed Muhammad Murtaza. He had a Masters degree in Sociology from Dhaka University. The letter writer had given the address of a KU staff member. On inquiry, the resident at the address, a non-teaching KU officer, wrote a letter to the Campus Advisor giving the names of his wife and children; he denied that anyone called Saeed Ahmed lived in his house.

In reaction to "Saeed Ahmed's" letter, Dr Abuzar Wajidi said that Prof. Kurasawa was a full professor at the university and had completed his PhD course work.

He added that according to the rules of the Japanese Education System, Prof. Kurasawa was considered equivalent to a PhD and accorded the same privileges and seniority rules that were the right of a PhD. "I am surprised at the letter that is full of contradictions and inaccuracies. KU has no rule that a non-PhD can not be a PhD supervisor. Prof. Shamim Akhtar (IR), Prof. Jamil Akhtar (Urdu), Prof. Riffat Karim (English), Prof. Shareef ul Mujahid (Mass Communication), Prof. Khalida Rahman (Sociology) and many other non-PhDs have supervised PhD work. This letter is an attempt at character assassination by some teachers who are sitting in glass towers and throwing stones at others," he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Fateh Muhammed Burfat, former chairman of the Department of Sociology said that this was a non-issue and had no substance. He added that a research supervisor gives the names of ten prospective referees and it is the Board of Advanced Studies & Research (BASR) which selects two referees from the names.

"Prof. Kurasawa has taught in our department as a visiting faculty. He is a full professor," he said, adding that besides, non-PhDs have become deans in KU. "The current dean of the Islamic Faculty is not a PhD; Prof. Saleem Memon is not a PhD either, but his name was included in the list of three professors sent to the governor for the deanship of the Faculty of Arts," he said.

Prof. Kurasawa said that he had concealed nothing about himself. "If somebody visits my website (www.gakusen.ac.jp/faculty/kurasawa/english-page.htm) he or she can get the facts. I have mentioned that my original name was Syed M. Murtaza before I adopted my Japanese name," he said.

Prof. Kurasawa has also provided information about himself in the Directory Database of Research and Development Activities (ReaD). It is interesting to note that a previous 'open letter' written and distributed by a shady NGO was an exact copy of the letter that was written by "Saeed Ahmed".

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PAC seeks action against KU research institute officials
Karachi: The Sindh Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday sought show-cause notices to be issued against officials of the University of Karachi (KU) HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry for incurring an irregular expenditure of Rs621,514 in lieu of purchasing air-conditioners (ACs) "without inviting tenders and by splitting the purchase order."

"The ACs were urgently required for the new nuclear magnetic resonance laboratory, as sensitive machinery was to be installed there," read the institute's written reply, claiming that French engineers were to arrive in the city on June 1, 2004, while installation work was scheduled to start from June 2.

Sindh Audit Director-General (DG) Nazeer Ahmed Seehar argued, however, that the institute had violated general financial rules by not inviting tenders and splitting the purchase order. When the co-director of the HEJ Institute, Prof. Abdul Malik, said that tenders were not invited due to time constraints, PAC Chairman Sardar Jam Tamachi said that "these are excuses."

The Audit DG observed that universities sometimes followed general financial rules of the Sindh government, but ignored them at other times and followed their own rules when they suited the institute.

The PAC also issued a warning to the KU Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research to follow codal formalities. It was stated that the centre paid Rs475,380 to a firm for the purchase of machinery and equipment, but ignored the lowest bidder, who had quoted a price of Rs265, 930, without assigning any reason.

The centre, in its written reply, contended that the equipment was purchased on the basis of technical justifications provided by the end-user/scientist. When co-director of the centre, Prof. Dr Khalid M. Khan, said that the equipment was purchased according to the Sindh purchase manual, Finance Additional Secretary Tariq Ali Shah stated that according to the purchase manual of 1991, reasons for ignoring the lowest bidder should be cited in writing. He said that in proprietary items, supplier/firm should also be identified in the tender, which was also not done.

The DG, Audit, said that the price could have been reduced through fair competition. He said that when the centre realised that they had not followed the rules, they sought approval from the syndicate for this financial irregularity.

Violation of financial rules
Karachi: The Public Accounts Committee of the Sindh Assembly has taken exception to the rampant practice of granting medical, computer and conveyance allowance to the ineligible employees of certain institutions of higher education in violation of the prescribed financial rules.

PAC Chairman Sardar Jam Tamachi while presiding over a meeting of the committee here on Monday said the attention of the governor (chancellor of all public sector universities and institutions of higher education in Sindh), the chief minister and the Higher Education Commission would be drawn to the violation of the rules. He pointed out that the syndicates and governing boards of universities were not authorised to frame rules and regulations which were in conflict with those prescribed by the ministry of finance. This, he said, would be mentioned in the communication to be addressed to the relevant higher authorities.

Sardar Tamachi's remarks came after representatives of the institutions concerned took the plea that in all cases, post facto approval for the grant of allowances had been taken from the relevant authorities. Besides, the allowances granted to the employees were given according to the practice in other universities for which an approval was also taken from the syndicate and board of governors.

The provincial director-general of audit observed that the institutions in question sometimes took advantage of the financial rules while exercising powers under their syndicates' rules but they would apply the syndicates' rules in other matters where these rules favoured them.

Representative of the financial department Tariq Ali Shah made it clear that the syndicates and the boards of governors of such institutions were not supposed to frame such rules which might be in conflict with the government's financial rules.

The meeting attended by Shama Mithani, Dr Mujaddid Isran, Dr Rafique Bhanban, Aamir Moin Pirzada and Shoaib Siddiqui discussed the remaining 11 paras of the audit reports pertaining to four educational institutions - the Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research (three paras), the HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry (two paras), the Sindh Agriculture University (three paras) and the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (three paras).Out of the 11 paras of the audit report discussed in the Monday meeting, six were settled. These included all three paras of the Panjwani centre. However, a warning against the illegal practice was tagged with the settled paras and the institutions concerned were directed to issue notices to the officials responsible for producing record to the auditors asking them not to show lethargy in this regard during the auditors' visit to their offices.

The Mehran University of Engineering and Technology was represented by its Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr A.Q. Rajput, the HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry by its Co-Director Prof Dr Abdul Malik, the Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research by its Co-Director Prof Dr Khalid M. Khan, and the Sindh Agriculture University was represented by its Vice-Chancellor Dr A.Q. Mughal at the PAC meeting.

Sardar Tamachi deferred some paras for want of support documents that could justify excessive payments, expenditure without sanction and transfer of funds from development sector allocations.

He said the committee would also write to the chancellor of these institutions for uniform rules to be observed by all institutions of higher learning, and proposed that legislation should be made for bypassing the financial rules in genuine cases. The news

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CMC students grabbed 1st, 2nd positions
Larkana: Chandka Medical College has grabbed the first and second positions in the MBBS final year examinations-2009 conducted by the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences.

Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical University vice-chancellor Prof Sikandar Ali Shaikh told journalists that Ms Saima Shaikh secured the first position and Vikram Lal grabbed the second.

Presently, the LUHMS conducts MBBS degree examinations of CMC, People's Medical College, Liaquat University and Ghulam Muhammed Mahar Medical College.

It was the first victory of the students of CMC, the constituent college of SBBMU, after it became functional, he said

He congratulated the position holders and said it was proof enough for the standard of education being imparted at the college. Dawn

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