PU admissions’ transparency under question

Transparency in admissions for session 2011 at the Punjab University (PU) has again become a question mark, as the varsity administration has once again appointed Dr Amin Athar as the admission committee chairman, who is already facing criticism for violating the ‘one man one post policy’ and his alleged soft corner for corrupt elements in admissions and exams, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Faculty members and students, applying in new sessions, are expressing their reservations in connection with transparency and merit, as they are worried due to corruption in admissions in the past. On the other hand, faculty members also condemned the PU administration, which according to them is well aware of corruption in admissions at the PU but has no aim to eradicate corrupt elements, which are the actual reason of this curse at the varsity.
After announcement of entry tests in various programmes, including the four-year BS (Hons), MA/MSc, MS/MPhil and PhD, people are not happy with Athar’s appointment, as he allegedly supports the corruption of pro-Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) teachers and students involved in cheating and other malpractices. PU Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr Mujahid Kamran was also urged to replace Athar, as he is not reliable for the post now.
For the last two years, incompetent people were appointed to the admissions committee, which gave admissions on favouritism and news of the malpractices also came into knowledge of the PU administration but nothing was done and even the admissions committee chairman was not replaced.
Varsity directors and deans especially target female students, as they could not do anything against them. The admissions committee also has backing of Athar who is present to save their skins. Athar, who is also director of the Institute of Bio Chemistry and Bio Technology, was appointed the admissions committee chairman by violating the ‘one man one post’ policy. Due to his inclination towards the JI, he was also appointed the hall council chairman. Students, who have applied in various programmes at the PU, are now questioning the admissions procedure.
According to a PU faculty member, concerns of the students are right, as every year teachers violate the merit policy and give admission on the basis of favouritism. He said that due to this practice at the PU, hundreds of brilliant students were deprived of admission by corrupt PU teachers, as they were protected by Athar and a strong group of pro-JI teachers, who even blackmail the VC whenever he tries to take action against them.
The faculty member said that people, who support Athar and other pro-JI teachers, are also involved in financial embezzlements, admission corruption and even plagiarism but the tragedy is that they are posted as directors, chairmen and deans. He said that a man who is illegally holding onto a position could not do justice. The PU teacher said that he wants the ask the VC whether he wants to earn a gold medal in corruption by appointing Athar as the admissions committee chairman and urged Kamran to replace him with a honest person.
A senior administration official said that these corrupt people, who do politics on the name of Islam, purchased expensive vehicles from students’ money and looted millions of rupees from varsity funds but no one including the VC and even the CM could take action against them. He said that in such a situation, who could expect that admissions will be given on merit and it is a tragedy of our society. The official said that students are worried about admissions and if the rulers did not take notice, then the degree of PU will become useless.
Shahab, a student who was purchasing forms for the entry test, said that he also inquired from various departments about merit and transparency. PU PRO Khurram Shahzad said that admissions will be given on merit, as the varsity arranged meetings to study the status of admissions and beside this, various deans and directors are also the part of admission committees. He avoided to comment on the status of Athar and said that he did not know about the admission process in the past. Despite repeated attempts, Athar was not available for comments.