|
|
|
|
End of PU plagiarism issue: HEC to release grant
Lahore, Feb 25, 2008: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) would
release Punjab University's (PU) pending grant of Rs 110 million which was
earlier stopped by the HEC last year due to a plagiarism issue, said HEC
Executive Director Dr Sohail H Naqvi on Sunday.
He said the notification
regarding the release of the grant would be issued in a week. He appreciated PU
Chancellor/Governor Lt Gen (r) Khalid Maqbool for retiring five PU plagiarists.
Dr Naqvi said the chancellor's decision was a warning to all plagiarists
across the country that no plagiarist would be spared.
Last year, PU
Centre for Higher Energy Physics (CHEP) former director Dr Fazle Aleem, Rashid
Ahmad, Sohail Afzal Tahir, M Aslam Saeed, Maqsood Ahmad and former PU Psychology
Department chairman Mian Aftab Ahmed, in April 2006 were accused of plagiarism.
The PU could not satisfy the HEC's inquiries regarding this issue, due
to which the HEC withheld the grant for the PU. The PU Syndicate had stopped the
increments of the six teachers on plagiarism charges. Dr Naqvi said, "Two weeks
ago, we issued some grant to the PU when PU VC Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran suspended
Mian Aftab over plagiarism charges."
Another HEC official said, "The HEC
is happy with the removal of the plagiarists. The HEC has demanded the
suspension of these teachers from service." He said four international
conferences, scheduled to be held at the PU, had been postponed because of the
plagiarism issue.
A PU teacher said due to the suspension of the grant,
construction work had not been completed. He said the first plagiarism case was
reported to former PU VC Lt Gen (r) Arshad Mahmood in April 2006. He said
despite initial reports and official announcements confirming the plagiarism
charges against the CHEP teachers, the PU administration had failed to reach a
final conclusion.
He said the teachers involved in plagiarism were pro-
Islami Jamiat Talaba.
PU spokesman Dr Mujahid Ali Mansoori said, "We
have resolved the issue and the chancellor has suspended the plagiarists from
service." Daily Times
GCU 'reluctant' to take up plagiarism case
The "reluctance" of the Government College University (GCU) administration to
take up case of a plagiarist needs immediate attention of the chancellor who has
been taking strict action against similar cases of the Punjab
University.
Recently five faculty members of the Punjab University's
Centre for Higher Energy Physics (CHEP) have been forcibly retired by the
Chancellor while almost a month ago PU Department of Psychology and Applied
Psychology chairman was suspended from service over allegations of
plagiarism.
Governor Punjab/Chancellor Lt Gen (r) Khalid Maqbool had
started taking a strict note of plagiarism in public sector universities when
the Higher Education Commission (HEC) voiced against the "mild" punishments
awarded to the plagiarists by Syndicates of different universities.
The
chancellor had formed a high level inquiry committee to probe plagiarism
committed by five faculty members of the CHEP while he formed another committee
to probe the alleged plagiarism case of PU Psychology Department chairman.
Similarly, he referred a case of plagiarism to the GCU Syndicate for proper
inquiry, suggesting action as he did not agree to the "punishment" awarded to
the guilty teacher by the university. The said teacher had offered his
resignation that was accepted by the syndicate, following which he was
repatriated to his parent department, i.e. Education
Department.
According to the GCU vice-chancellor, as the case has already
been taken up and dealt by the university syndicate, it could not be taken up
again. Interestingly, CHEP teachers cases had also been taken up and dealt by
the PU Syndicate but were again probed on the chancellor's orders.
A CHEP
teacher, on condition of anonymity, said some significant developments related
to plagiarism were not taken into account during the whole process before
deciding fate of the guilty teachers. He said plagiarised paper of the CHEP
teachers was revised when they handed over an erratum to the editor of the
magazine concerned. "It is a right of a researcher to send an erratum to the
publisher to rectify any mistake made by him," he added.
He said some of
the alleged plagiarised papers were not published in any research journal or
presented in a conference that's why they could not be labelled plagiarised or
non-plagiarised. Seen in this context, academic circles are of the view that all
such developments and details should be taken into account before taking the
final decision. The News
IJT slams setting up of Performing Arts Department
Lahore: Islami Jamait Taliba (IJT)
activists of the Punjab University (PU) denounced PU Chancellor and Governor Lt
Gen (r) Kahlid Maqbool on Sunday because of his announcement that a Performing
Arts Department would be set up in the PU.
PU official spokesman Dr
Mujahid Mansoori said there should be a department on the performing arts and
that the IJT's criticism was of no importance.
Two days ago, Maqbool,
during a scholarship distribution ceremony held at the New Campus, announced
that a department of performing arts would be set up at a cost of Rs 7 billion.
The IJT, a sub-group of Jamaat-e-Islami, has since then been condemning the
move.
According to a press release issued by the IJT, PU IJT Nazim Rana
Zahid appealed to the winning political parties to remove Maqbool and appoint a
new civilian governor. Parents send their children to the university for
education, he said, and not to learn music and dance. The money to be spent on
setting up the Performing Arts Department should be better spent for "the
welfare of students", he added. The IJT activists also criticised the government
when it began setting up the Musicology Department at the PU.
Mansoori
said a complete strategy would be evolved to setup the department. "The students
of the Institute of Communication Studies (ICS) and the Institute of Art and
Design often perform on various university programmes, so the new department
could be started under either of the two," he asked.
PU ICS Director Prof
Mugheesuddin said several programmes like Diplomas in Film and TV were already
being offered by the department. He said the decision regarding the handling of
the proposed Performing Arts Department would be taken after the PU vice
chancellor issued a letter in this regard.
Institute of Art and Design
Director Prof Shah Nawaz Zaidi said his department was also willing to take
responsibility for launching the new department, as "we are already teaching
music and art". Daily Times
|
|
|
|
 |
| Post your Comments/ Views about the news. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Education News | | Updated: 24 May, 2012 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
