HEC okays officials for NAB jobs in violation of policy

ISLAMABAD: In gross irregularity and deviation from its own policy and standard operating procedure (SOP) the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has granted degree equivalence to three NAB officers despite the advice from the officers of the department concerned.

Interestingly, according to documents available with The News, the HEC had initially declined to declare these official eligible for the job telling them it was up to their employer to determine their eligibility as per the job requirement.

As per HEC Act’s clause 10 (o) the commission’s mandate is confined to merely equivalence and recognition of degrees, diplomas, certificates and not to determine suitability of the candidates’ eligibility for other organisations. It is violation of even HEC mandate and misuse of authority.

However, in this case all the three candidates were facilitated out of the way in violation of HEC‘s own policy letter which categorically states that the commission has no role in determining eligibility against any post.

As per documents, a letter was written by Zaheer Ahmed, Deputy Director (Rect & TCS) NAB Headquarter to HEC Director General on May 6, 2017 stating that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has recruited assistant directors and deputy assistant directors. “During scrutiny of educational documents, it has been observed that M/s Yasir Mahmood, Assistant Director, Karim Bux, Dy Assistant Director and Harmoon Bhatti, Dy Assistant Director possess degrees with different nomenclature to those required in the advertisement/recruitment Rules of the Bureau.

The letter further added that the said officers had already provided equivalency certificates issued from HEC to NAB but those were ambiguous and needed clarification. HEC was requested to offer expert opinion whether the degrees possessed by the candidates could be considered equivalent/identical to the degrees required in advertisement against relevant post.

However, HEC’s Attestation and Accreditation (A&A) department through a document dated May 30, 2017 opined that after due deliberations on the relevant file, the HEC’s Attestation and Accreditation (A&A) department said these degrees could not be considered equivalent/identical being offered in distinct specialisations with different nomenclatures.

“Despite the fact that these degrees have common courses as per expert opinion of National Business Education Accreditation Council (NBEAC) but cannot be considered as equivalent/identical in terms of scheme of studies/courses. The HEC through National Curriculum Review Committees (NCRCS) has developed the curricula of these degrees separately,” says the document of signed by Farukh Raza, Deputy Director A&A.

The document adds that University of the Punjab, Lahore was also offering BB&IT and BBA (Hons) degrees separately. “Keeping in view the above, the A&A Division is of the view that these degrees cannot be considered equivalent/identical being offered in distinct specialisations with different nomenclatures. The employer may determine eligibility/relevance as per job requirement of the post, keeping in view their recruitment rules.” On June 2, 2017 the matter was again referred to Project Director, NBEAC for expert opinion in the light of the meeting held at the office of Executive Director, HEC on June 2, 2017.

The NBEAC categorically stated after review and discussion with the experts, a conclusion was developed that these degrees cannot be considered equivalent/identical being offered in different specialisations.

On June 5, 2017 the HEC executive director, being competent authority and head of HEC secretariat, approved the draft reply over NAB‘s query which clearly stated that all these three degrees could not substitute each other and it was up to the employer to determine eligibility as per job recruitment keeping in view their recruitment rules. Surprisingly the very next day on June 6, instead of forwarding file to junior staff for dispatching the reply to NAB, the file was marked to PD (NBEAC) once again without the knowledge of HEC Executive Director.

On June 8, 2017, in contradiction to earlier unanimous decision and in a big shift, a meeting was held at HEC chairman’s office and it was decided that all three candidates could be considered eligible for advertised job.

The next day through a letter No. (61)/A&A/2017/HEC/4744, HEC communicated its decision to NAB that all three candidates may be considered eligible for the advertised post.

According to HEC documents, the decision was also even contrary to earlier communicated written decision through individual equivalence letters issued on April 3, 2017. The individual letters, copies of which are available with The News, categorically stated: “It is up to the employer to determine your eligibility as per job requirement of the post, keeping in view the recruitment rules. It may be noted that admission to a university for further education and determination of suitability in relation to job recruitment rest with the university and employing agency concerned respectively and this commission has no role in such issues.”

When contacted, HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed denied any wrongdoing and defended his decision as legal. The chairman said he did not take decisions under any pressure.

The HEC chairman also sent a detailed written response to The News which states that HEC is mandated vide Section 10 (1) (o) of HEC’s Ordinance to determine equivalence and recognition of degrees, diplomas and certificates. He said as per standing procedures, the officials of NAB applied to HEC on the prescribed equivalence proforma along with documents for equivalence of their qualifications. After detailed scrutiny of documents, their cases were processed and awarded equivalence letters as per policy.

Subsequently, NAB Deputy Director (Rect &TCS), approached the HEC on May 8, 2017 and requested to specifically clarify as to whether degrees possessed by the following officials could be considered equivalent/identical to the degrees as required in advertisement against relevant post. Since the HEC equivalence letters issued in favour of following officials are ambiguous and needs clarification.

He said the NAB asked whether it could consider BB&IT specialisation in finance equivalent/identical to MBA (Finance)/MBA (Accounts) for employment purpose.

Secondly NAB asked whether it could consider BPA as equivalent/identical to bachelor degree in Business Administration for employment purpose.

Thirdly, the Bureau asked whether it could consider BSc (Hons) Agricultural Economics as equivalent/identical to bachelor degree in Economics for employment purpose.

Accordingly, HEC consulted all the stakeholders including National Business Education Accreditation Council (NBEAC) and after thorough deliberations by NBEAC through subject specialist clarified that these officials might be considered eligible for the advertised job.

When contacted by The News, NAB Spokesperson Asim Ali Nawazish said the Bureau followed the laid down procedure to seek HEC opinion on the degrees of newly recruited officers. He said he was not aware of the specific details of the case.