PESHAWAR, Dec 4: The University of Peshawar recently suspended a staffer after his involvement in the issuance of fake marks certificates came to light. The strict disciplinary action on the part of the university administration, however, is being described by knowledgeable sources as “just the tip of the iceberg”.

About the episode, the registrar of the university, Shirin Zada Khattak, told Dawn: “When this case came to my knowledge after I took charge as a registrar, I immediately charge-sheeted the staffer and suspended him. I am now waiting for the report of the inquiry committee to take appropriate action.”

In September this year, a three-member committee looked into the case of two different detailed marks certificates issued to two students of Bachelor of Dental Surgery (3rd Professional).

One set of marks certificates was in accordance with the records of the Secrecy Section while the other one was issued after rechecking of the papers in which the student concerned had failed. This set was not in accordance with the records, said a report of the committee, a copy of which is with Dawn.

The committee eventually found out that the second set was fake. The committee assigned the blame to a key-punch operator who had access to blank copies of detailed marks certificates, tabulated marks, kept record of tabulation and also was responsible for printing the certificates in this case.

The inquiry committee recommended that the responsible staffer should be immediately transferred and demanded strict disciplinary action against the student involved.

The committee also recommended that the issue must be further investigated to find out the other culprits. It also demanded a thorough investigation into the affairs of the Secrecy Section to identify the wrongdoers, the report of the committee submitted to the registrar said.

When contacted on the phone, both the Controller of Examinations, Mohammad Shafi, and the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dr Mohammad Javed Khan, were not available for commenting on the issue.

“This is not the first time that the issue of fake certificates and degrees has surfaced,” official sources told Dawn.

The university cancelled in August the admission of an MA student of the English department after his detailed marks certificates of BA were found to be “forged and exclusively tampered with”, said an official letter obtained by the reporter.

A source said he could not give the total number of forgery cases as no one had pointed out such cases to senior university officials.

“Sometimes we receive fake documents but it does not mean that university staffers are corrupt. He said it was common for people to come across fake currency notes and educational certificates. The existence of such documents did not mean necessarily that the university staff was involved in wrongdoing.

A well-placed official, however, pointed out that in 2004 fake documents were detected which had been issued on genuine paper. No action was taken in that case.