Daily Times

The Sindh High Court on Wednesday accepted a petition for hearing against Sindh Excise and Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla for allegedly holding a fake degree. Mr Chawla was elected MPA on a reserved seat for minorities on a PPP ticket.

While declaring the petition maintainable, the court issued notices to respondents and sought their replies. The petitioner claimed in his plea that Chawla acquired educational degrees of Mukesh Kumar Bansari, hailing from Sajawal.

In 2010, the Hyderabad Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education had officially confirmed to the University of Sindh that no person by the name of Mukesh Kumar Chawla, who was also PPP’s provincial minister for excise and taxation at that time, has passed class X and XII examinations held by the board.

The board said in response to the university’s queries about Mr Chawla’s certificates that Mukesh Kumar Bansari did appear in matriculation and intermediate examinations and Mr Chawla’s particulars matched with Bansari’s.

The verification was conducted after a man named Jai Kumar had challenged Mukesh Kumar Chawla’s election as member of provincial assembly and sent a formal complaint to the Supreme Court, requesting it to take suo motu action.

Mr Jai Kumar argued that Chawla’s matriculation, intermediate and BA degree certificates were fake, forged and tampered with.

Published in Daily Times, January 17^th 2019.