|
|
|
|
Plagiarism: PU physicists & GCU probe
Five PU physicists shown the door: Plagiarism case
Lahore, Feb 23, 2008: Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool has compulsorily retired
the former director and four faculty members of the Centre for High Energy
Physics, Punjab University, after a probe body found them guilty in the
plagiarism case.
"The director and the four faculty members of CHEP have
knowingly indulged in plagiarism", the two-member inquiry Committee stated in
its report to the governor.
The governor had initially constituted a
three-member committee headed by Punjab Board of Revenue senior member Safdar
Javed Syed which submitted that the case of deciding penalty should be referred
back to the PU Syndicate or the governor should constitute another inquiry body
headed by a BPS-22 officer.
Sources said the submission did not please
the governor as the inquiry committee had just been tasked to rule on the
alleged plagiarism. The governor then asked committee's two members - University
of Health Sciences vice-chancellor Prof Dr Malik Husain Mubbashar and PU School
of Biological Sciences director Prof Dr Abdul Rauf Shakoori - to give a
clear-cut assessment on the case (plagiarism) in question.
The wrongdoing
by CHEP's five faculty members surfaced in 2006 when the then PU faculty of
science dean Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran, now PU vice-chancellor, filed a complaint
that the CHEP faculty members had plagiarized international research
papers.
When two different PU probe bodies confirmed the charges, the
university syndicate decided in April last year that CHEP director Prof Dr
Fazal-i-Aleem should relinquish the directorship of the centre while two annual
increments each of assistant professor Maqsood Ahmad and lecturers Rasheed
Ahmad, Sohail Afzal Tahir and M. Alam Saeed be withheld. The syndicate had also
censured the accused teachers. Syndicate's `mild punishment' had drawn strong
reaction from within the university and Higher Education Commission
(HEC).
Stating that the punishments were not according to the gravity of
the offence, the HEC kept pressing the Punjab University administration (led by
VC Arshad Mahmood then) to fire the accused faculty members.
When the PU
did not heed the advice, the HEC withheld varsity's Rs139 million grant and,
after sometime, sought governor/chancellor's intervention for an appropriate
decision. Consequently, the governor sought a detailed presentation from the
university in May last year. Dawn
GCU Syndicate fails to probe against plagiarism
Lahore: The Government College University (GCU) Syndicate, held recently,
did not start a probe into the case of a plagiarist despite chancellor's
directive in this regard.
In September 2007, Punjab
Governor/Chancellor GCU Lt Gen (Retd) Khalid Maqbool took strict notice of
plagiarism cases in public sector universities had referred back a case of
plagiarism, committed by a senior faculty member of the GCU, to the varsity's
Syndicate.
In early 2007, the GCU Economics department Chairman Prof Dr
Qais Aslam was found guilty of committing plagiarism. He had allegedly copied
excerpts from the book of an Indian Nobel laureate AK Sen and the publications
of the World Bank in one of his articles, which he authored.
After
initial probe, he was immediately removed from the chairmanship of the
department while his service under Tenure Track System (TTS) was also withdrawn
by the GCU under which he was drawing a handsome salary. However, he continued
his duties as a teacher in the same department. Later, Prof Qais offered his
resignation, which was accepted by the GCU Syndicate and he was repatriated to
the Punjab Education department. However, the chancellor did not agree with
acceptance of the Dr Qais' resignation by the Syndicate therefore he referred
back the matter to the GCU Syndicate in order to hold proper inquiry and suggest
stern "action".
According to sources, the decision of referring back the
plagiarism case to the GCU Syndicate was taken by the chancellor after reviewing
plagiarism cases in various universities of Punjab on demand of the Higher
Education Commission (HEC). HEC has been advocating 'zero tolerance' policy
towards plagiarism and demanding stern action against the plagiarists like
removal of the guilty teachers from service.
It is pertinent to mention
here that the chancellor had also expressed his dissatisfaction over "mild"
action taken by the Punjab University (PU) against its teachers from the Centre
for Higher Energy Physics (CHEP) who had committed plagiarism. He had ordered
constitution of a high-level inquiry committee and to suggest action
subsequently.
Sources further said as per the chancellor's directive, the
GCU Syndicate, which held a moot on last Saturday, was supposed to take up the
case but it did not.
An official of the education department, requesting
not to mention his name said the department had started correspondence with the
GCU administration in connection with implementation of chancellor's directive,
as the matter was not taken up by the Syndicate.
"GCU administration
might hold an inquiry and later the case will be presented before the Syndicate
for final action," he said. However, when contacted, GCU vice chancellor Prof Dr
Khalid Aftab said the matter had already been debated in the Syndicate and Dr
Qais Aslam was repatriated to his parent department by the Syndicate, which
accepted his resignation. "The department has to decide what to do since the
teacher was at the department's disposal now", he added. He further said
chancellor had also been informed in this connection. The News
Promotion for PU teachers soon: VC
Lahore: Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran has said
many assistant professors of the university have been deprived of their due
right of promotion in the past, adding even many of them have been serving the
varsity since 1970 but now all the decisions will be taken on merit and orders
will be issued in this regard soon.
He expressed these views in a
special meeting with assistant professors at Institute of Bio-Chemistry &
Bio-technology here on Friday.
Registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan,
Khalid Saeed Butt of College of Fine Arts, Zafar, Muhammad Ahmad, Mumtaz Anwar,
Khalid Mahmood Cheema, Ashfaq Ahmad and 100 other assistant professors were also
present.
Dr Mujahid Kamran said the university management was trying to
facilitate the teachers by getting them free from the burden of visiting
administration offices for minor works so that they could focus on research and
educational responsibilities.
He said he also joined as lecturer,
therefore, he knew the problems of teachers very well because he himself had
suffered the same problems. He said promotion and other problems of assistant
professors would be solved soon.
Taking action on applications of the
teachers, the vice chancellor ordered to construct a canteen at IER, purchase of
new bus for pick and drop facility of Special Education students, foreign PhD
scholarships for teachers, financial and administrative facilities to teachers
for participating in conferences.
Earlier, assistant professors thanked
the vice-chancellor and said that it was the first time in the history of the
university that a teacher VC had a meeting and asked them about their problems.
Ashfaq Ahmad of Law College said that former Principal of Law College Dr
Tahir-ul-Qadri was his class-fellow and he had been teaching in the university
since 1980 but he had not been promoted after assistant professor. The News
|
|
|
|
 |
| Post your Comments/ Views about the news. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Education News | | Updated: 24 May, 2012 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
