LAHORE: A four-member committee probing fake degree cases in the Punjab University (PU) on Monday declared nine more LLB degrees of lawyers fake.

The Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) had, one month ago, sent 230 LLB degrees to the PU for their verification ahead of its election.

The PU Department of Examinations had earlier verified the record of 224 degrees, which were found valid and made unfair means cases on six degrees of the candidates, declaring them bogus. Later, it turned out that the department had again verified a fake degree out of the 224 verified degrees. The record of PbBC winning candidate Jameel Asghar 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.

However, PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmed formed a committee of four members, namely 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, to probe the serious irregularity on part of certificate section.

PU committee has so far declared 15 degrees of PbBC members bogus

The probe committee, during its investigation, found total 15 out of 230 degrees fake and submitted its report before the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday.

The report, available with Dawn, states that Syed Tahir, Muhammad Hafeez and Syed Muhammad Imran had taken examinations in 1992, 1996 and 1992, respectively but were declared fail. The degrees of Javed Bashir, Syed Tayyab Hussain Shah and Safdar Saleem from 1994, 1993 and 1996, respectively were also declared fake.

Muhammad Mazhar Iqbal had appeared in supplementary exams in 1996 and 1997 and was declared fail. Tariq Riaz’s degree was issued in year 1991 and Jamil Asghar Bhatti’s in 1996 and both these degrees were found to be fake.

The report further states that Chaudhry Shah Nawaz Ismail appeared in supplementary exam in 1996 and annual 1997, Tahir Mehmood in annual exam 1993, Norang Hayat in supplementary exam 1994 and Amir Manzoor in supplementary exam 1998 and they were declared fail.

Muhammad Ahsan in annual exam 1997 and Raja Farooq Akram in annual exam 1992 were also declared fail.

PU Registrar Khalid Khan told Dawn that the committee had submitted its report before the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He said the university was holding a Syndicate meeting on Dec 8 (today) to fix the responsibility on the people involved in issuing verification of the fake degrees. He said those involved would have to face action under Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act (PEEDA).

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2020