LAHORE: A fact- finding committee of the Punjab University (PU) on Wednesday found two grade 17 officers guilty of issuing genuine verification to a fake LLB degree of Punjab Bar Council winning candidate Jameel Asghar Bhatti.

The Punjab Bar Council had one month ago sent 230 LLB degrees to the Punjab University for their verification ahead of their upcoming elections.

The PU Department of Examinations verified record of 224 degrees out of 230 as correct and made unfair means cases on six degrees of the candidates and declared them bogus. However, out of 224 verified degrees, the record of Mr Bhatti was rechecked and it was found that genuine verification had been issued to his fake degree.

The verification letter was signed and issued by Assistant Controller Parshant Singh and Admin Officer Bakhtawar of the certificate section.

The latest report filed by the controller of examination says as per the result statement of LLB annual examination 1996 held in Nov-Dec 1998 the record against roll number 1319 is Mr Bhatti, also a newly elected member of the PbBC as per unofficial results.

However, a subsequent notification issued on Aug 30, 2000 under signatures of Muhammad Yaqoob, former controller of examinations, is not valid as he was de-seated from the position on May 13, 2000.

After examining the degree of Jamil Bhatti, it was found out that the admission form had been issued under the name of one Javed Iqbal and his name had also been registered under the roll number of Jamil Asghar Bhatti.

Similarly, in the second part of LLB, the admission form was issued under the name of Rai Khalid Bashir Khan, but the result was issued under the name of Jamil Bhatti. Therefore, the university has suspended the verification issued in favour of Jamil Bhatti and the case has been forwarded to a disciplinary committee.

Later, PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmed formed a four-member committee to probe the serious irregularity on part of PU’s certificate section. PU’s Pro Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Saleem Mazhar, PUASA President Prof Dr Mumtaz Anwar, former Controller of Examinations Prof Dr Sajid Rashid and University Law College’s Prof Iftikhar Tarrar are the members of the probe committee.

The committee has further constituted two groups of senior deputy controllers and deputy registrars who are checking and counter checking each record of the degrees separately.

PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Niaz Ahmed on Wednesday visited the Certificate Section and reviewed the working of the investigations and record checking process.

PU Registrar Khalid Khan told Dawn that it was not possible to issue genuine verification to a fake degree without the connivance of internal staff of the examination department. He said the probe committee was instructed to find out who could be possibly involved in the matter and bring a bad name to the prestige of the university so that strict action could be taken against them.

He said the committee was also instructed to work fearlessly and asked them not to spare any official irrespective of his/her designation.

Mr Khan said the verification of degrees is dealt by the university employees/officers of the Department of Examinations only and the teachers have nothing to do with the issuance of verification letters. He said the committee would also recheck 230 degrees and personal hearing of the seven persons whose degrees were found fake would also be held by the discipline committee.

He said the university would also lodge an FIR against those having fake degrees and also against those who issued verification of these fake degrees.

He said action under PEEDA Act would be taken against the officers involved in issuing verification of the fake degrees after the Syndicate meeting.

Meanwhile, PU Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmed has summoned an emergency meeting of Syndicate on Dec 8 to form a regular inquiry into involvement of PU officers and take strict action in the case.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2020