PU geography teacher ‘cheats’ administrations

LAHORE – A teacher from the Punjab University’s (PU) Geography Department, Safder Ali Sherazi, is allegedly cheating on PU, Karachi University (KU) and Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan Today has learnt.
According to PU sources, Safdar took a two-year study leave from PU in 2006 to do his PhD from KU, which he later did not extend in 2008, and kept on getting salary from the PU accounts. After four years, he is still studying at the KU, and allegedly is also involved in stealing PhD thesis of two of his colleagues at the Karachi University.
Sources further add that KU’s Board of Advanced Studies and Research (BASR) received an application on October 25, 2010 claiming Safdar’s misconduct but KU did not take any action. PU Geography Department Head Dr Abdul Ghaffar confirmed that Safder got the study leave sanctioned, which he did not extend, but did not later inform PU of his whereabouts. As per rules, Dr Ghaffar said, a person doing a PhD has to keep his parent department updated about his status.
According to HEC sources, Safder was not only violating PU and HEC rules but was also cheating KU’s administration, as he had also applied for a leave at KU as well. An HEC source said that a number of teachers in the past enjoyed full pay with all mutual benefits from their parent university while on a study leave at another university, and to prevent such corruptions, HEC had developed rules barring such teachers of staying on the parent university’s payroll while they were on leave. Safder is ‘guilty’ of such crimes as despite being on a study leave at KU he was getting his salary from PU accounts.
Sources also said that Safder was an influential man and PU and KU administration was helpless to take any disciplinary action, while the PU faculty was condemning this violation of rules. Safder violated the rules owing to his good terms with KU’s Geography Department’s Professor Dr Jamil Kazmi, who allegedly is involved in giving him favour in PhD thesis.
According to an HEC official, Safder’s thesis was illegal owing to his misconduct. He said HEC was determined to eradicate plagiarism from the public sector universities, and always focused that teachers should research after getting relieved from the universities where they teach, but some teachers preferred to do their thesis by sitting in a single room.
He said HEC was spending billions to upgrade the status of PhD programs but such teachers were earning a bad name for HEC. He said HEC will also instruct PU administration to investigate Safder’s case. A PU faculty member said that PU Geography Department’s faculty protested against Safder in the Chairman’s office last year when he with the help of a lab attendant Shafqat attempted to steal thesis from the computers of two colleagues.