Islami Jamiat Taliba activists, students and resident community of Punjab University have demanded of the Punjab government to end the supremacy of a private catering group from the varsity as it is using the land for unethical activities including musical shows.
The IJT activists also demanded from the chief justice of the Lahore High Court to take a sue motto action on holding unethical musical shows at the campus.
The PU students and IJT activists said late night musical shows and dance parties were held at these marriage halls. A private group also got the two main cafeterias on lease and increased the prices of food items, they complained. The IJT activists on Monday strongly condemned VC Professor Dr Mujahid Kamran for allowing such musical shows at the varsity premises and threatened to stop them by force.
According to a PU official the varsity land was given to a private group of caterings which established its supremacy at the campus. By using its influence, the catering group also got two main cafeterias on lease, he added. The rates at the marriage halls and cafeterias were very expensive and their standard of food was also poor, the official said. He said this private group had also imposed various restrictions on other canteens just to force the students to use only their canteens.
The IJT activists alleged that the VC had filled his own pocket by giving the tender of marriage halls to his favorites. They the Punjab government had appointed the VC notwithstanding he was facing allegations of 1.5 billion corruption during his previous tenure.
Muhammad Shabir, owner of a private catering, said the IJT activists were telling a lie that musical shows were held at the marriage halls as the city administration never allowed them to continue marriage activities after 10:00pm. He termed all the allegations of the IJT activities as false and baseless.
However, PU spokesman said the tender of marriage halls were given by following all rules and regulations. The administration had stopped the hegemony of IJT as in past these tenders were given by them, he added.
He said in the past merit policy was violated by IJT activists and pro-IJT teachers, and they themselves were involved in holding unethical musical shows at the varsity. He said all the activities at marriage halls end before the time announced by the city district government.
PU grads demand laptops CM promised: Students of the Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS) department of Punjab University (PU) on Tuesday accused their administration of allegedly being involved in preparing a counterfeit list of students to receive laptops under Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif’s laptop distribution initiative.
They stated that their department’s administration and a group of clerks were abusing the initiative and practising favouritism in selecting candidates by cancelling the names of already registered MPhil students.
Speaking to Pakistan Today, a member of the M Phil class said the CSAS administration had cancelled their registrations by terming them ineligible as these students had already graduated from PU and were now working for government organisations. The student stated that in reality, the majority of graduates were still jobless and none of them had even received their transcripts yet. Another female student also requested the PU vice chancellor (VC) to investigate a group of teachers allegedly involved in academic corruption in their department as it was the most mismanaged out of all 72 departments of the university. They demanded the CM to take notice of the issue as there were around 22,000 registered students due to receive laptops at PU and internal elements were trying to damage the university’s reputation. CSAS Chairwoman Dr Ambreen Javaid said the students who were raising issues were no longer members of the department as they had completed their degrees. She said the process of making lists was totally transparent and based on merit.
