Court indicts AWKUM VC for 682 illegal appointments

PESHAWAR: An accountability court on Monday indicted Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (AWKUM) Vice-Chancellor Dr Ihsan Ali in a case of 682 illegal appointments at the university without fulfilling legal formalities.

The accountability court judge, Muhammad Asim Imam, framed the charges against Dr Ihsan Ali in a reference pertaining to illegal appointments. Denying the charges, the vice-chancellor said he would contest this in the court.

The court issued notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to produce five witnesses in the case on November 12, which is the next date of hearing.

The NAB prosecutor, Hasnain Tariq, informed the court that the vice-chancellor was involved in illegal appointments of 652 people from grade-1 to 16 and 30 people from grade-17 to 21 in the university.

Earlier on July 28, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had restrained the NAB from arresting Dr Ihsan Ali in the appointments case. The accused was directed to cooperate with NAB during the investigation of the case.

Dr Ihsan Ali, a senior archeologist, was earlier arrested on September 15, 2015 by the NAB along with several other academicians in a case of misuse of authority.

They were accused of giving affiliation to an illegal medical institution in Abbottabad. Dr Ihsan Ali was granted interim bail by the high court in the case on September 23 last year.

In May 2015, the NAB executive board had sanctioned an inquiry against several officials of the AWKUM, including Dr Ihsan Ali.

The NAB board suspected that they were involved in irregularities in appointment of both teaching and non-teaching employees in the university.

The board alleged that over 700 appointments were made without fulfilling codal formalities. Subsequently, the board converted the inquiry into full-fledged investigation.

The NAB had also started various investigations against Dr Ihsan Ali and others for issuing illegal scholarships and misusing the funds of the university.

However, Dr Ihsan Ali got restraining from the PHC in these cases. The court directed the NAB authorities not to arrest the vice-chancellor.

The NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had also arrested Zahid Mehmood, the then superintendent (BPS-17) of AWKUM and presently posted as superintendent at the University of Swabi.

The NAB claimed the superintendent with the connivance of others was involved in corruption, corrupt practices and misuse of authority in connection with illegal appointment and regularisation of 652 officials in AWKUM.