Bank service charge on students fees

Banks told not to levy service charge on students' fees
Larkana, Oct 14: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad has described levy of service charge by scheduled banks while collecting different forms and fees from students of education institutes.

He said the practice violated orders of the State Bank of Pakistan.

In a letter sent to the chairmen of the education boards in Sindh on Oct 9, the Governor's Secretariat termed the practice against the instructions of the State Bank of Pakistan circulated on March 14, 2007, sources in the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) of Larkana told this correspondent.

The SBP in a letter to the chief executives and presidents of the scheduled banks on March 14, referring to the earlier circular of July, 2003, said that it had come to the central bank's notice that some of the banks were receiving service charges from students for collecting fees on behalf on education institutes.

Since the collection of fees by bank is the deposit of money on account of its client i.e., educational institutions, any bank charges from students was not fair. All the banks were advised not to levy any service charges for collection of fees from students in any manner whatsoever, the letter said.

The governor advised the chairmen of all the education boards in the province to take up the matter with the authorised banks and ensure that no service charges were levied.

In another letter, the Governor Secretariat addressed the presidents of scheduled banks on Oct 9, 2009, and said that it had been brought to the notice of the Sindh governor that some branches of banks while collecting different form and fees from students and educational institutions were levying service charges, despite clear instructions from the SBP.

He requested them to personally look into the matter and direct the branches dealing with educational boards to comply with the instructions of the central bank; to immediately stop collecting any service charges and direct them to refund the amount of service charges collected with effect from March 14, 2007, till date.

Sources in the Larkana BISE said that the board had received such instructions from the Sindh governor's secretariat on Monday.On Tuesday, the chairman BISE in a letter to the bank, it deals with, has asked for stopping the practice of levying service charges on forms, fees, cheques, pay orders, demand drafts, in the light of the orders of the SBP.

He also sought details of service charges so far collected from students and refunding that amount, the sources said.

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Sindh high court summoned British Council, IELTS
Karachi: The Sindh High Court (SHC) summoned British Council and International English Language Testing System (IELTS) officials and others on a Rs 500 million lawsuit filed by a Pakistani citizen for damages.

Plaintiff Dr Syed Jaffer Abbas Jaffery submitted that he appeared in IELTS on March 27, 2008, to seek immigration to Australia. The plaintiff's counsel submitted that the IELTS result was issued on April 12 that was utterly out of prospect of the plaintiff, therefore, he appealed against the result as being inaccurate and erroneous. He said that the defendant sent a letter to the plaintiff on May 7, informing him that after re-assessing his result in speaking test, his marking has been increased to 5.5 bands. The counsel submitted that the negligence by defendants has caused ample delay in the visa processing of the plaintiff for immigration to Australia and he suffered financial losses besides heavy mental torture.

The court was prayed to issue a decree against the defendants for the recovery of damages to the tune of Rs 500 million, owing to the wrongs committed by them and failing to tender an apology.

The SHC summoned British Council, IELTS, University of Cambridge officials, Deputy High Commissioner UK and others for their comments.

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KU faculty head attended international management moot
Karachi: Dr M Abuzar Wajidi, Dean, Faculty of Management & Administrative Sciences, University of Karachi (KU), recently attended the17th International Conference on Employment Principles & Practices held at University of Quebec at Montreal, Canada.

Dr Wajidi presented a paper titled 'corporate social responsibility' that highlighted the economic and social challenges brought about as a result of actions of the Government of Pakistan against the militant activities. He pointed out that Pakistan faced severe challenges of security and people were suffering from substantial losses in terms of life, property, and sense of insecurity for the past several months.

He reminded the audience, scholars coming from all corners of the world, that Pakistan was protecting the peace of the entire world community and, therefore, the world community should come forward to support Pakistan in effectively overcoming its economic crisis and social problems.

He also chaired one of the conference sessions. Later, he met the professors of management sciences at the Vancouver University, Toronto University and George Brown University & College and discussed matters of academic interest and cooperation between KU and the said Canadian universities.

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National education council should be set up
Karachi: The President of Tanzeem-e-Asdatza Pakistan (TAP), Professor Dr Muhammad Ishaq Mansoori has demanded the concerned authorities to constitute the National Education Council in drafting the National Education Policy. According to a TAP press release, Mansoori demanded strict action against corrupt employees in the education department. He said that all teachers who were absent from work and were receiving salaries at home should be terminated with immediate effect along with the respective supervisors and assistant district officers. He also demanded that hard working teachers should be given their due promotions and increments. The news

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