516 degrees returned as varsities fail to follow HEC guidelines

Initial report on fake degrees submitted to NA body; 183 degrees genuine, 37 fake

By Saadia Khalid

ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has found 183 degrees of lawmakers genuine and 37 fake, sending back 516 degrees out of the total 736 to universities concerned for re-verification.

The HEC submitted the initial report to the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Education on Monday after the completion of the first phase of verifications of degrees.

According to the initial report, the commission received 736 degrees out of the total 936 degrees of parliamentarians, and 37 of them had been declared fake.

According to sources, it is mentioned in the report that some of the universities did not follow the guidelines established by the HEC for verification.

The universities whose degrees have been sent back for re-verification included the Punjab University, the Balochistan University, Allama Iqbal Open University, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai University, and the University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, Peshawar and Lahore.

The HEC's report on degrees verification was to be presented in the meeting of the National Assembly's Standing Committee held on 8th of July, but the HEC requested the standing committee to extend the date.

Commenting on the report, NA Standing Committee on Education Member Justice (retd) Fakharun Nisa said the committee had not taken a decision yet on the issue of fake degrees.

However, she said the standing committee could not disqualify the holders of fake degrees. "The only way through which the lawmakers holding fake degrees could be disqualified is the implementation of Sections 82 and 78 of the Representation of People's Act," she added.

Our Lahore correspondent adds: The Punjab University on Monday sent back 63 degrees after verification to the HEC. Of them, four degrees, one of a senator and three of MPAs of the Punjab Assembly, were found fake.

A PU spokesman said of the three MPAs whose degrees had been found bogus, one MPA had already been disqualified while another had resigned as per a court decision. He said the verification report on the remaining 73 degrees would be sent to the HEC on July 27. The spokesman added that eight degrees of parliamentarians, which were returned to the HEC for being vague and illegible, were received by the PU again on Monday.