Inquiry into affairs of private university ordered

LAHORE : The Punjab governor has ordered inspection/ inquiry into the affairs of a private university and formed a four-member committee with direction to submit a detailed report to him within 30 days.

The committee formed on the orders of Punjab governor, who is also the patron of the private university, is headed by former Federal Secretary Mazhar Ali Khan while other members are Prof Dr Mansoor Sarwar, vice-chancellor, University of Engineering and Technology, Khalid Rehman, member Accreditation Committee and Ali Ahmed, deputy secretary, universities-II, Higher Education Department (HED) Punjab.

The committee may also co-opt any other member if required.

Some of the terms of reference of the committee are to ascertain whether the sponsoring body of the private university, i.e., Ibadat Trust, is functioning in line with the aims and objectives prescribed in the trust deed, to conduct forensic audit of the Ibadat Trust and to ascertain whether the university’s unauthorised sub-campuses at Gujrat, Pakpattan and Islamabad fulfill the minimum requirements of an institution as stipulated in HED Punjab’s policy 2006 and HEC’s guidelines on the matter or not and to formulate recommendations on the matter and submit a report to the governor/patron within 30 days to proceed further in terms of Section 7 (2) of the university’s Ordinance 2002.

Talking to The News, Zulfiqar Ahmad Ghuman, HED Punjab secretary, confirmed the formation of the committee. To a question, he said that the latest development was continuation of a matter related to the private university in the Punjab Assembly.