Zaeem to supervise BZU students admission to other institutions

LAHORE

The Lahore High Court full bench on Monday appointed Minister Zaeem Qadri as incharge of committee to supervise the arrangements to ensure admissions of physiotherapy students of BZU Lahore in other institutions.

The bench headed by Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi issued this order while holding proceedings on several identical petitions of students against the varsity. Through their counsels, the students submitted that the university opened its campus in Lahore illegally which was closed later. They said they had been given their dues but they were not being allowed to enter the campus premises. They said even after completion of their courses, some students were not being given degrees.

Justice Naqvi remarked that parents bore educational expenses of their children hardly and now the court would not let anyone commit fraud in the name of education. The court asked Zaeem Qadri to supervise the arrangements to ensure admissions of physiotherapy students of BZU Lahore in other institutions. The court also ordered the director of the campus to return fee amount to the students for not completing their session.

The court adjourned the hearing till 27th of March. On 7th of February, 2017, the bench passed an interim order in which the university was directed to issue degrees to students who passed their examinations at Lahore sub-campus. The petitioner-students through their counsels told the bench that despite court orders they had not been issued degrees and also NOCs.

The bench took notice of non-compliance of its previous order and observed that “Kot Lakhpat jail was not far from here,” and addressed the officials of the varsity. Almost 4,000 students had filed their petitions and had challenged non-recognition of their degrees as well as non-issuance of their degrees. They said they paid huge fee to the varsity and attended classes but despite all this, they had been deprived of degrees. They prayed that their degrees be issued and these also be recognised by the authorities concerned. The students had also staged several protests against the administration of the sub-campus of the varsity.

fake degree case: A Lahore High Court division bench on Monday suspended three-year imprisonment awarded to a former MNA, Ijaz Chaudhry, by a trial court in a fake degree case and ordered his release on bail. 

Mandi Bahauddin district & sessions judge had awarded the former parliamentarian three-year imprisonment in a private complaint filed by Election Commission of Pakistan. The commission had filed the complaint after Supreme Court disqualified Chaudhry on the grounds of submitting a fake graduation degree and concealing assets at the time of filing of nomination papers for 2013 general election. 

Representing the former MNA, Advocate Pir Kaleem Khurshid argued before the bench that the prosecution never produced the alleged fake degree on record during the whole trial. Moreover, he said the petitioner was not afforded opportunity of fair trial. The lawyer asked the bench to suspend the sentence and release the petitioner on bail. Convicts could be released on bail in cases of short term imprisonment, he added. 

However, a deputy prosecutor opposed the petition and said the petitioner was behind the bar for one month only. Even a convict of short term had to undergo at least six months behind the bar, he said. The bench headed by Justice Abdul Sami Khan suspended the sentence and granted the former MNA bail. 

MoU: Virtual University (VU) and Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) on Monday signed an MoU for research, development, innovation and joint education endeavours. VU Rector Dr Naveed A Malik and LCWU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Rukhsana Kausar signed the MoU in a ceremony held at VU’s MA Jinnah campus, Lahore.

The MoU envisages collaboration between the two institutions in academic, research and human and infrastructural resources. Apart from the collaboration in research projects, this linkage provides collaboration options such as sharing of academic data, publication and information. Both institutions agreed to access research laboratories, facilities, joint conferences, seminars, workshops and other areas of mutual interest.

The officials of both varsities also discussed various strategies for upcoming international conference “Social Sciences and Humanities in the New Millennium: Challenges and Prospects” which is going to be held with collaboration of LCWU from 14-16 December, 2017. The website of the conference was also launched after the ceremony.