Fatima Jinnah Medical College affiliation with PU
Court allows FJMC to retain PU affiliation
Lahore, May 12: A special division bench of the Lahore High Court on
Tuesday restored the affiliation of the Fatima Jinnah Medical College
(FJMC) with the Punjab University by setting aside a provincial
government's notification under which the college was affiliated with
the University of Health Sciences (UHS). The bench comprising
Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan
observed that the government had failed to provide any valid reason to
justify the affiliation of a historical medical college with a small
university in place of the Punjab University which was a historical
institution. Earlier, counsel of the PU, the UHS and FJMC
students concluded their arguments along with an additional advocate
general, who defended the provincial government. The UHS counsel
pointed out that almost all major medical colleges of the country,
including Allama Iqbal Medical College and Quaid-e-Azam Medical
College, Bahawalpur, had already been affiliated with the UHS. He
said section 37 of the UHS Ordinance 2002, which dealt with affiliation
of medical institutions, required every medical institution to be
affiliated with the university unless there was any legal cover to an
institution. He said exemption from affiliation with the UHS
earlier granted to the FJMC and the KEMC was temporarily, however, the
King Edward Medical College was made university later. And the FJMC had
to be affiliated to the UHS. The law officer defending the
government said the affiliation of the medical college was purely a
policy matter and the government had to see different aspects with
regard to upgrade of colleges. He said two committees were
formed by the government, which took the impugned decision after giving
an opportunity of hearing to FJMC students. The law officer said that the PU was only an examining authority and it even did not have a medical faculty. The
PU counsel pleaded that the government had failed to produce in the
court minutes of meetings wherein decisions of FJMC's affiliation with
the UHS and retaining its affiliation with the PU were taken. He
pointed out that neither the PU nor the FJMC were given any prior
notice by the government and they failed to give reasons behind the
government's decision. The counsel for FJMC students said that
the college was not given any hearing prior to the decision. He said a
large number of foreign students studying in the historical medical
college also expressed concern over its de-affiliation with the PU. The
UHS also failed to produce required results, he said. The
government showed gender discrimination and did not give a status of
university to the FJMC like the KEMU, the counsel added. After
hearing the arguments, the bench set aside the notification and allowed
the Punjab University to retain the affiliation of the FJMC. CJ
seeks reply from AGP: The Lahore High Court Chief Justice, hearing a
suo motu against shortage of judges in accountability courts of
Rawalpindi and Lahore, sought a reply from the Attorney General of
Pakistan. Earlier, a Deputy Attorney General informed the
court that in Rawalpindi accountability courts new judges had been
appointed to the required strength while shortage of judicial officers
in Lahore would be met soon. The chief justice, however,
expressed displeasure over the delay in appointment of judicial
officers and directed the Attorney General to file a reply by May 18. The news
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Private institutes cherish independent status
Lahore: As the faculty and students of the Fatima Jinnah
Medical College are jubilant at the Lahore High Court's decision to
revoke their institution's affiliation with the University of Health
Sciences, the private medical institutions are also feeling encouraged
to "maintain their independent status". The Punjab government
a few months ago had notified affiliation of the FJMC with the UHS. The
decision was taken in view of the fact that it is the only
public-sector medical institution in Punjab which was not affiliated
with the UHS, thus, providing a 'genuine' reason to the private
institutions to resist affiliation with the varsity. "The
court's decision will encourage the private medical institutions to
resist affiliation with the UHS in Punjab in future and even those
already affiliated with it will seek de-affiliation," said a source in
the provincial health department. He further said the government was
contemplating to challenge the LHC decision in the Supreme Court. Interestingly,
the University College of Medicine and Dentistry (UCMD) which got
affiliated with the UHS on the orders of the Punjab governor in March
2008 is still not allowing its students to appear in the UHS
examinations. The UCMD was established in early 2000 and had
been functioning without getting affiliated with any public-sector
university of the country till 2008. Under the UHS Ordinance section
37, "all the medical institutions operating within the geographical
boundaries of Punjab shall be affiliated with the UHS." Thus the
college's status was 'illegal'. Before its affiliation with
the UHS, the UCMD was the constituent college of the University of
Lahore, a private-sector charter varsity, which was also conducting its
examinations. "The UCMD is conducting its exams in violation
of the rules and thus the degrees it is issuing will not be recognised
in Pakistan and abroad," an official of the UHS said. He said the World
Health Organization had also declared that it would not recognise the
degrees of the UMDC. Like the FJMC, the UCMD did not want its
affiliation with the UHS because it is said to have "strict examination
system". Dawn
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PU faculty member blows the lid on 'corruption on campus'
Lahore: A senior faculty member of the Punjab University has made startling
revelations regarding irregularities and favouritism on the part of two
top officials of the Institute of Communication Studies (ICS), who
illegally granted grace marks to their "favourite" students and made
them eligible for the PhD programme despite the fact that they had
failed their MPhil exams. In a five-page application to the PU
vice chancellor, former coordinator of the ICS examination committee
and assistant professor, Dr Afirah Hamid Ali has sought action against
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences Dean Dr Mugheesuddin Sheikh
and Institute of Communication Studies Director Dr Ahsan Naz, for
jeopardising the historic institution and putting the credibility of
their Masters, MPhil and PhD programmes at stake. Illegal
admission: Dr Afirah said that she had proof of every thing and
will present the evidence at a proper time. In her application to PU VC
Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran, she alleged that Dr Ahsan had illegally
re-admitted a student, Abu Bakar of MA Replica Journalism, who had been
suspended by the ICS Admission Committee for a year in 2008. She said
Abu Bakar had been suspended, as another student – Rab Nawaz Mehdi –
was found taking an examination in his place. She said he was
supposed to rejoin university a year later, which he did not, citing
"medical reasons", and was hence dropped from the programme. Dr Afirah
alleged that Dr Ahsan also sought her signature on the re-admission
documents, which she signed as she was in a hurry and because Dr Ahsan
had told her they were just routine documents. Dr Afirah said she had
demanded an inquiry and had resigned as the examination coordinator
after this. Replacement: Another issue that she highlighted was
that Dr Mughees had replaced the original result sheet of MA Mass
Communication exams, submitted by an external examiner Dr Shaista
Nuzhar (deputy information secretary), with a fake one. She said Dr
Shaista had confirmed that the signatures on the mark sheet were
forged. She disclosed that an inquiry had been conducted into this
criminal act by a faculty member – Dr Amin Ather, director of the
School of Biochemistry – but to no avail. A PU faculty member said that Dr Amin is notorious for covering up illegalities of
pro-Islami Jamiat Taliba teachers and demanded PU Chancellor Salmaan
Taseer restrict the VC from assigning further inquiries to Dr Amin, and
initiate an inquiry against him. Special exam: Dr Afirah also
highlighted that Dr Mughees, using his position as the ICS director,
had illegally arranged a "special exam" for two of his favourite junior
colleagues, Shafique Kamboh and Naveed Iqbal, who had failed their
MPhil exam and received 11 and 12 marks, respectively. She said after
the "special exam", the students were granted 45 and 40 marks. Dr
Afirah informed that an inquiry into the matter had been conducted and
its report is still awaited, however, the two candidates were granted
admission to the PhD programme. She asked the VC how the admissions
were possible when the inquiry report's results had not been released
yet. Illegal admissions: Another major issue that Dr Afirah
brought up was that Dr Ahsan Naz had illegally formed a committee to
grant admissions to certain students in the MPhil programme. She said
an inquiry was conducted into the matter and the inquiry head, Dr Ross Masood, had declared the department's MPhil admissions illegal. Dr
Amin Ather said he had released the report of the inquiries that were
assigned to him, adding he was gathering information on Abu Bakar's
case and will release a report soon. A senior faculty member
said any action over Dr Afirah's application is unlikely and the
government needs to intervene in the varsity's matters. He said the
chancellor and Higher Education Commission should take notice of the
issues and ask the VC why action had not been taken when corruption was
highlighted. The faculty member said the chief justice of Pakistan
should also take notice if the government is not interested in
eliminating corruption from the university. PU Additional
Registrar Dr Aurangzaib Alamgir said that the VC had instructed
to review Dr Afirah's application and conduct an inquiry. He said the
inquiry officer will review the application according to the rules and
regulations. Meanwhile, Dr Mughees said he is unaware of this
application and will face the allegations in court. Daily times
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PU results
Lahore: The Punjab University (PU) declared the results of various examinations on
Tuesday. The exams are: BS Computer Science, First Year, Annual
Examination 2009, BS Computer Science, Second Year, Annual Examination
2009, BS Computer Science, Third Year, Annual Examination 2009 and
DMRD, Part-II, Supplementary Examination 2008 and Annual Examination
2009. Detailed results are available at the PU website www.pu.edu.pk. The news
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LACAS librarian dies of burns
Lahore: Ayesha, the Lahore College of Arts and Sciences (LACAS)
librarian who sustained severe burns when a fire broke out at the
college on Monday, died in hospital on Tuesday. Mukhtar, a sweeper, had
earlier succumbed to his injuries. Ayesha's body has been handed over
to her family. Daily times
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School guard injures four people
Lahore: Four persons, including two children, sustained bullet
wounds when a security guard of a private company opened fire at
Islampura on Tuesday. Police said the accused identified as
Shahid Maqsood of a security company was hired by a local school as a
security guard. He had an exchange of harsh words with some boys and
opened fire. As a result, Mrs Tariq and Azeem and two children Zeeshan
and Shahbaz sustained injuries. The news
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Bus runs over schoolboy on Walton Road
Lahore: A 12-year-old schoolboy was crushed to death by a bus on the Walton Road on Tuesday. The
victim, Muhammad Attique, a resident of Model Colony, was riding his
bicycle to school when a speeding bus bearing registration number
LER-2487 hit him, resulting in his instant death. Residents of the area
caught the bus driver and handed him over to police, but he was
allegedly released after he bribed the arresting officers. On the other
hand, police claim the bus driver had fled the scene. Attique's
body was handed over to his family without an autopsy. The residents of
the area staged a protest against police for releasing the driver. They
vandalised the bus, burnt tyres and blocked the road, which disrupted
traffic. Police then baton charged the protesters to disperse them.
Senior police officers were also on hand during the protests and tried
to assure the demonstrators that action would be taken against the bus
driver and the police officials who had released him. Daily times
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