Punjab university illegal admissions issue

PU inquiry committee yet to resolve illegal admissions issue
Lahore, Feb 02: Despite the passage of three months, no result has been declared of the inquiry evaluating the admissions to the 2009-2011 MPhil session of the Punjab University's (PU) Institute of Communication Studies (ICS), it has been learnt.

The university administration is trying to conceal the facts to save responsible officials, accused of approving the admissions of several candidates to the programme in violation of rules.

It had been learnt that most members of the admissions committee were incompetent to undertake the task. The inquiry report, a copy had declared the admissions to the MPhil programme "illegal".

The inquiry committee, headed by Botany Department chairman Dr Khan Rass Masood, had also recommended the "initiation of a detailed inquiry to fix the responsibility of this act of negligence/gross violation of the Punjab University Doctoral Programme Committee rules".

On the other hand, affected candidates said although the admissions had been declared illegal, the responsibility for the fiasco was yet to be affixed.

Taking notice of the matter, the university's vice chancellor had ordered an inquiry on September 2, 2009.

The inquiry committee had cited relevant PU rules for the admission, one of which states that, "The Departmental Doctoral Programme Committee (DPC), all professors and associate professors, one senior most assistant professor/lecturer, holding PhD degree shall scrutinise the applications received for eligibility.

In departments where there is no professor/associate professor, the DPC will be constituted by the VC on recommendations of the dean of the faculty/chairperson of the DPC. In such cases for the violation of the synopsis, 2-3 experts will be co-opted."

According to the three-page inquiry report, five faculty members comprised the ICS admission committee, including Director and Associate Professor Dr Ahsan Akhtar Naz, Assistant Professor Dr Noshina Saleem, Assistant Professor Savera, Assistant Professor Abida Ejaz and Lecturer Naveed Iqbal.

In its findings, the inquiry report said, "The admissions conducted by the admission committee of the ICS are illegal as the committee consisted of a majority of members who were not eligible to be members of such a committee."

The report also quoted a plea taken up by the ICS to justify the illegality of the constitution of the admission committee, saying the body consisted of faculty members available at the time of admissions.

However, the inquiry report maintained that the absence of competent staff was no ground for violating PU rules, adding that the admission programme could have been delayed or rescheduled. The report said that admission tests were conducted on August 15, 2009 and the ICS chairman, in a bid to justify the admission committee's validity, inducted two other PhDs to the committee on August 27.

The inquiry report said the inclusion of these two members at a later date was illegal, as they were not members of the ICS faculty.

ICS Chairman Dr Ahsan Akhtar Naz said the institute's admission committee consisted of faculty members available at the institute during summer vacations.

He said students had been admitted to ICS on merit. Naz added that the committee was constituted in such a manner due to the absence the departmental Doctoral Programme Committee members.

At least five PhDs are regular members of the ICS faculty, but it is still unclear why they were not considered for inclusion in the admission committee. Daily times

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PBTE issued diploma exams schedule
Lahore: The Punjab Board of Technical Education has issued the schedule for Diploma of Associate Engineer, Diploma of Dress Making and Dress Designing, 1st Annual Examination, 2010.

The last date for receipt of admission forms without late fee has been fixed as 22.03.10. Admission forms can be sent till 29.03.10 with double fees while with triple fees till 05.04.10. The exams will commence from 19.05.10

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UHS declared BDS result
Lahore: The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has announced result of the Third Professional BDS Annual Examination.

According to a press release here on Monday, a total of 273 candidates from five affiliated dental colleges appeared in the exam out of which 210 passed and 33 failed the exam. Result of 30 candidates was put on RL list. The pass percentage remained 86.42.

Unaiza Idrees of de'Montmorency College of Dentistry, Lahore, got the first position with 730/900 marks.

Hina Tariq of Margalla Institute of Health Sciences, Rawalpindi and Zainab Asif Janjua of de'Montmorency College of Dentistry, Lahore, got second and third positions with 727/900 and 725/900 marks respectively. Supplementary exams will commence on March 18.

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Poor students transport
Lahore: Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has said that the government is paying special attention to the improvement of public transport system as it is also a barometer of the progress of a country.

He has directed the Transport Department to consider plying of free busses for the boy and girl students of schools located in the poor localities.

He was speaking at a briefing given by Lahore Transport Company Chairman Tasnim Noorani regarding modern transport facilities for people at the Chief Minister's Secretariat on Monday.

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MBBS, BDS classes begin
Lahore: The classes of first batch of MBBS and BDS students begun on Monday at the newly-established Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Medical and Dental College/Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore.

A press release said that Chairman and Dean of Shaikh Zayed Hospital Prof Anwaar A Khan and principal of Medical and Dental College Prof Zafar Iqbal, welcomed the first batch students, who were admitted after securing more than 900 marks in FSc or equivalent examination.

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PEF regional offices
Lahore: The Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) has set up regional offices in Rawalpindi and Multan to enable the poor students of the areas to get education without any difficulty. The step will help in immediate and prompt interaction with the PEF Partner Schools in the areas.

This was stated by PEF chairman Raja Muhammad Anwar, while talking to a group of school owners at his office here on Monday. The news

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