PESHAWAR: The two professors given acting charge as vice-chancellor of Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan and Hazara University, Mansehra were not only junior in terms of seniority but also had allegations of academic corruption against them.
The process for appointment of acting vice-chancellor is that the Higher Education Department (HED) submits a panel of candidates, mostly three senior most deans of the university concerned, to the chief minister to choose anyone among them and forward the name to the chancellor for final approval. The chancellor in consultation with the chief minister can also pick a person other than those recommended by the HED to name him as acting vice-chancellor.
The office of vice-chancellor Gomal University Dera Ismail Khan fell vacant after the sudden death of Professor Dr Amanullah Akhtar in December 2013 and Prof Dr Inayatullah Babar of University of Engineering and Technology (UET) was given the acting charge.
The position was later advertised for which around 70 applicants applied and scrutiny is yet to be made, the sources said. The appointment of Inayatullah Babar triggered criticism from certain academic circles, as he is not only junior among the list of professors but has also been accused of academic corruption.
According to sources, Babar has done his MS and PhD in computer science and was made chairman of the Electrical Engineering Department of the UET for which he was not eligible.
He got four research papers published with slight changes in his name in a single journal, the sources said. The officials at HED were of the opinion that they had recommended his name in view of his rich curriculum vitae.
When contacted, Dr Babar said he might be junior on the list of professors because of his age, but he met the criteria required for the office of vice-chancellor. “The search committee for appointment of vice-chancellor also recommended me for a few universities during the previous government,” he said.
He said he was eligible for the chairmanship of electrical engineering as he had done his PhD from Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, George Washington University, USA. Also, he reminded that he was Higher Education Commission (HEC) approved supervisor for electrical engineering.
Dr Babar rejected the allegations of academic corruption against him as baseless and argued that the four papers published in the UET journal had been submitted on different dates. “The journal is normally published quarterly, but in that year only one issue was brought out and all the pending papers were published in it,” he said.
He added any paper published in the same journal had to be verified by a foreign and a local expert and finally be approved by the vice-chancellor. “All my papers had been formally approved by the experts and the vice-chancellor before publication. One of my papers won an international award,” he argued.
In the Hazara University, Mansehra, the vice-chancellor’s office fell vacant after the retirement of Prof Dr Sakhawat Shah in February last. Prof Dr Sohail Shehzad was given the acting charge. Objections were raised as Sohail Shehzad too was not only among the junior most professors, but had allegations of plagiarism against him.
The HED officials said they had recommended Dr Sohail Shehzad’s name because he was the senior most among the current deans of the university. This post too has been advertised with March 25 is the last date for submission of applications.
The official website of Hazara University said: “Sohail joined lectureship in Peshawar University in 1999. He completed his PhD in 2005. He joined the Hazara University in 2006 as an associate professor. He became full professor in 2007 and dean in 2013.”
Dr Sohail Shehzad is a graduate of law and has done his PhD from Area Study Centre. He got a research paper “A Right-Based Approach to Development” published in the International Human Rights Perspective, a journal of Khyber Law College, University of Peshawar in January 2003. Co-authored by Prof Ahmad Ali Khan and Asad Ali Durrani, the paper is a clear case of plagiarism, the sources alleged.
A presentation made by one Jorge Daniel Taillant at a seminar on Globalization and Human Dignity in March 2002 and a discussion paper filed by Flore Nguyen, research assistant at the Office of High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) in September 2002, have been combined and published in the journal without even making the slightest changes, the sources said.
Dr Sohail Shehzad said he was the acting charge of vice-chancellor because he was the senior most among the four faculty deans.
Regarding the relevance of his post-graduation and PhD degrees, he said that he was having a LLM degree which was enough of a qualification for professor. “It is not the institution where you studied but the thesis you have done that counts for PhD. I have done my PhD on the constitution making of Afghanistan, which is relevant with my graduation and post-graduation,” he said.
Regarding plagiarism, Dr Sohail Shehzad said he was not the first author of the paper. He said the paper had been given to him for editing and his name was given as co-author.
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