LAHORE: The University of Engineering and Technology (UET) inquiry report on a paper leak on social media recommended an investigation by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cyber crime wing to find those involved in the incident.

Earlier, the UET had constituted a two-member committee to probe the alleged paper leak of the entrance test for admissions to the PhD Islamic Studies held in August 2021.

A faculty member of Islamic Studies Department Assistant Prof Dr Tanveer Qasim had lodged a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Establishment about the alleged leak of the entrance test in October 2021. He claimed that he had submitted a complaint to the dean concerned through an email in August but to no avail.

The Higher Education Department (HED), on Dec 20, had directed the university to submit a report/comment for further action. UET Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mansoor Sarwar formed a two-member committee, comprising Prof Dr Naveed Ramzan and Prof Dr M Shahid Rafiq, to probe into allegations.

The inquiry report, available with Dawn, concluded that the question paper was not leaked before the test and no candidate had taken the paper booklet out of the examination centre or photographed it during the examination.

However, it further stated that the paper booklet was solved and shared on social media to defame the department as well as the university, which was not possible without involvement of some member of faculty or staff of the department.

The committee recommended a detailed inquiry to fix the responsibility of sharing of paper booklet either by faculty or staff of the department. It also recommended that the case should be forwarded to the FIA cyber crime wing for investigation. It directed the department to streamline and secure its process of entry test for admission to PhD as per the practice of other departments of the UET.

Mr Tanveer Qasim told Dawn the committee did not complete its work and had not penalised anyone in the paper leak issue. Raising questions about the report, he said the responsibility would lie on none other than the head of the department. He said the responsible person HOD was again assigned the duty of securing the system. He demanded a proper inquiry into the incident and suspension of the HoD from his service till completion of the inquiry.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2022