The intermediate results judicial enquiry commission headed by Justice Shahid Saeed of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday summoned District Coordination Officer (DCO) Lahore Ahad Cheema for Wednesday (today) to cross-examine him in the light of allegations levelled against him by the top officials of eight education boards of Punjab. However, Information Technology (IT) Consultant of eight education boards Dr Majid Naeem, being in custody of NAB on physical remand till November 21, has been summoned for appearing before the commission on November 22. He will also be questioned by the commission about the allegations made against him regarding failure of his brainchild ‘Computerised Online System’ that broke down in Intermediate results 2011.
On Tuesday, scores of acting and suspended chairmen and controllers of eights Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) of Punjab appeared before the inquiry commission. The officials tabled charge sheets of allegations against IT consultant Dr Majid and former Punjab Higher Education secretary Ahad Cheema, holding them guilty of giving an abortive and faulty online system for the education boards of Punjab. Punjab Higher Education Secretary Haseeb Ather, who succeeded Ahad Cheema, said that the online system of his predecessor was not bad but it required certain corrections which were not done and it was put in use in the boards in the raw form. To a question by the judge, Haseeb said that abolition of the manual system was done in haste in by Ahad, adding that Dr Majid and the education boards were dependent on the online system before they could test it as a pilot project for exams of the few classes or at some of the boards only.
Haseeb said Ahad, who later became DCO Lahore also, was a junior officer of grade 18 but he was placed on grade 20 post of higher education commission secretary in violation of the rules. Upon the judge’s question on who appointed Ahad in violation of the rules, Haseeb revealed hesitantly that as per the posting procedure, the services secretary recommends names to the Punjab chief secretary, who then makes the appointments accordingly.
The judge also inquired about the authority for appointment of IT consultant Dr Majid. Haseeb replied that it is the Higher Education secretary’s responsibility but perhaps Ahad, being a junior officer, chose a wrong person for the job. Former BISE Faisalabad controller Muhammad Riaz said that the online system had in-built faults and it was pointed it out in one of the meetings of controllers of the eight boards. Riaz said that he had suggested theonline system should be run as a pilot project and manual system should not be abolished until the new system is successful. To a question from the judge, he said, being a subordinate, he did not raise his objection in writing as he could not afford to offend Dr Majid and Ahad Cheema.
Boards’ system Assistant Analyst Muhammad Ikraam said that earlier when the errors came in results, he along with others pointed out the fault to Dr Majid but he was infuriated and ignored the complaint. Later, as a punishment for his increment was stopped by the board chairman on the directions from Dr Majid, he alleged. Board’s Employees’ Association President Khalid Javed Niazi said that he had filed a writ in court against Dr Majid’s appointment and his online system on March 31, 2011 and also wrote a letter to the Punjab chief secretary that the manual system should be abolished. He had also asked that Dr Majid, being accused in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) case should not head the IT system of the boards, but in vain. Former Gujranwala Board chairman Basher Ahmed said that the online system had some unidentified problems in its software and they led to the errors in roll numbers and results. He also complained that his office was set on fire by the students of Punjab Group of Colleges.
