KARACHI, Feb 14: The Sindh government has shown willingness to take over the Dawood College of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, if the latter clears all the liabilities and provides sufficient funds for upgrading the existing laboratories and other facilities at the institution.

The proposal was put to the provincial government by the federal ministry of education that manages the affairs of the nationalized institution.

Official sources disclosed that the provincial government had communicated its conditions to the federal authorities and the final decision was pending with them.

The matter was taken up at a meeting held at the governor‘s house a couple of weeks ago, with governor Muhammedmian Soomro in the chair.

It was noted at the meeting that the institution was already incurring an annual loss of about Rs2 million, and the public sector universities in Sindh had disaffiliated it.

More than three thousand students are enrolled at the college and fifty per cent students belong to the other provinces.

Dr Muhammad Saleem Chaudhry, a senior professor of the college, is currently acting as the principal.

The college administration has also not implemented the revised pay scales, repo-rtedly owing to financial hardships.

The sources said that currently a team of auditors was engaged in auditing the college accounts from 1990 to 2000 as massive irregularities allegedly took place during that period. The matter was referred to the National Accountability Bureau for investigation which assigned the task to the anti-corruption establishment.

However, it was decided to undertake the audit of the accounts first before any further action.— PPI