KARACHI, Aug 26: A number of top position holders of the University of Karachi are waiting for the release of cash awards, which were announced by the Sindh governor, Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, five months back.

A couple of graduates aspiring for the cash awards said they had so far not been given the amount promised by the Sindh Governor, Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, in his speech during the varsity’s 18th general convocation held in February 2005. They feared that the awards might have been forgotten by the concerned functionaries.

A female student referring to her visits to the varsity and queries put by her to the university staff said that she had been given to understand that the varsity’s authorities had not made any serious efforts on the issue of awards so far.

The top position holders appealed to the governor to look into the matter and ensure an early award of cash prizes to them like that made to students of other educational institutions, who had received cash prizes from the Governor’s House in a shorter period.

At the last general convocation of the University of Karachi, its chancellor and governor Sindh, Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, while addressing graduates and other participants, had announced cash awards of Rs25,000 each for all top position holders of various departments of the varsity.

Some 200 top-position holders from various programmes belonging to the 2004, 2003 and 2002 batches of the morning programmes were awarded gold medals, which were arranged through endowments.

However, there were many other deserving toppers who could not be given gold medals as the university lacked financial resources for the purpose.

Sources on the campus said that in regard to the Sindh governor’s cash awards, the varsity had initiated certain follow-up measures, but things could not be materialized as the officials themselves were confused about such a “huge” payment.

A source added that that if the governor’s announcement was followed, an amount to the tune of Rs5 million rupees would be needed for the cash awards.

The source added that the financial implication could even double if the decision was applied to many other top-position holders of the mentioned three years, who had not attended the convocation or were not awarded gold medals by the university due to paucity of funds.

Graduates are of the view that the governor’s award should be made applicable in the cases of all those who had secured top-positions in their respective examinations, both in the morning and evening programmes, and should not be limited to graduates of the morning programmes only.

A senior personality at the helm of affairs said the university had already sent the list of top-position holders to the chancellor’s secretariat, and he was hopeful that the graduates would shortly be given the cash awards.

However, he said that the undue delay in releasing the award money had become a matter of concern for them, adding that they had planned to use the money for further education. He said students feared that the issue might fall prey to red-tapism.

Another concerned student, who too has been visiting the university every week for his award money said the initiative taken by the governor of Sindh was warmly welcomed by students.