GILGIT, Dec 25: The Registrar of the Karakoram International University (KIU), Arshad Mehmud Chaudhry, who is also a student of the MBA (executive programme), was caught while cheating in second semester exams in the paper of Organizational Behaviour on Monday.

Witnesses and KIU students, who were present in the exam hall, said the registrar started cheating by producing a piece of paper in the last hour of the exam in the presence of the invigilators who initially hesitated to snatch the material.

They said the invigilation team comprised faculty members of MBA, education and other departments who did not take any action against the registrar until a girl student of MBA, Saira Anwar, protested why he was being given a freehand.

Witnesses said that a young invigilator and a lecturer of the International Relations Department, Mr Tassawar Rahim Baig, somehow gathered courage and snatched the cheating material from the registrar and a case of using unfair means was registered against him.

They said both the acting vice-chancellor and the controller of the examination were away on Monday but KIU Deputy Controller of Examinations Karim Khan was there but was more helpless than the invigilators.

The sources said that the registrar took admission in the MBA on quota for the KIU employees to upgrade his educational qualifications in 2003.

The sources said the varsity syndicate appointed Mr Chaudhry as registrar despite his ineligibility because the post required 12 years' experience in the relevant field with a second class master's degree which the registrar did not possess.

When contacted, a KIU spokesman said that it was much ado about nothing.