November 4, 2003	Tuesday	Ramazan 8, 1424

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MULTAN, Nov 3: The Bahauddin Zakariya University’s faculty of engineering and technology dean has claimed that he had reported the matter of alleged irregularities in appointments and construction at the university to the NAB when his repeated requests to stop wrongdoings fell on deaf ears of the authorities concerned.

BZU Vice-Chancellor Dr GhuIam Mustafa Chaudhry had sought an explanation on Oct 28 last from the faculty of E&T dean, Dr Akhtar Ali Malik, that why shouldn’t a disciplinary action be taken against him under removal from service (special powers) ordinance 2000 for committing misconduct by directly communicating with the outside agencies (NAB and ACE), and providing them copies of the university’s official documents without the permission of the competent authority.

Earlier, Dr Malik had submitted an application, along with the supporting documents, to the NAB against irregularities of the university management in 157 illegal appointments, payments to the contractors for construction work without compulsory administrative approval.

The administration also allegedly leased out the university’s 169-acre agricultural farm for five years to a firm dealing in pesticides without advertising and, that too, at lower annual rent compared to the previous years.

In reply to the explanation served to him under the removal from service ordinance, Dr Malik referred to 23 letters he wrote to the vice-chancellor from Oct 31, 2002 to July 5, 2003 to draw his attention towards irregularities being committed in the university’s financial, recruitment and administrative matters. He pointed out that instead of forwarding his letters to the chancellor’s office, the university authorities always exerted pressure on him to withdraw the complaints.

Prior to the recent notice, the university authorities had served him two show cause notices on July 23 and Oct 15 last regarding the objections he had raised against the unlawful practices of the university management, he said.

He also reminded that the university syndicate took the matter of the show cause notice at its meeting held on Aug 30 last when the VC ignored the syndicate’s suggestion to hold an external inquiry into the matter. However, he said, he had replied to all the show cause notices and explanations within the stipulated time, with documents supporting his assertions. Disappointed with the inaction of the university management, he had left with no option but to report the matter to the accountability agencies, said the BZU faculty dean.

He claimed in his reply that whatever he did was in the best interest of the university and his act did not fall within the definition of misconduct as defined in the removal from service ordinance.

According to reports, the NAB had got conducted a preliminary investigation through the anti-corruption establishment into the allegations levelled by Dr Malik.

The ACE authorities had reportedly applied for a regular inquiry into the matter after declaring the written reply of the university VC as “unsatisfactory.”