Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan’s prestigious arts and cultural studies’ institution was facing corruption and embezzlement charges, as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was probing the allegations of embezzlement in financial affairs and illegal appointments against the National College of Arts (NCA), Daily Times learnt on Monday.

NAB spokesman Jahanzeb Chattha confirmed that the bureau had received complaints pertaining to financial embezzlements in NCA. He said that NAB has asked the NCA administration for relevant documents so that everything could become crystal clear.

According to a letter available with Daily Times, some unknown faculty members, students and staff of NCA asked several federal departments, political personalities and courts to take notice of corruption in NCA. The letter was sent to the Cabinet Division secretary, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Lahore High Court chief justice, Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, opposition leader in the National Assembly and chairmen of the Parliament House, Higher Education Commission, NAB, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Punjab Chief Minister’s Complaint Cell, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as well as the auditor general of Pakistan.

It is pertinent to mention that National College of Arts is one of the oldest and historical seat of arts and cultural studies in Pakistan, which had not only produced renowned artists, architects, painters, film makers, actors and musicians, but had also played a vital role in promoting soft of the country across the world.

The letter written to all concerned departments indicated that corruption by NCA Principal Dr Murtaza Jafri was in full swing, and nobody, including the finance department, was voicing against such blatant use of authority. The letter also claimed that all appointments in the college were illegal, as they were made without approval of the cabinet or NCA board of governors. As many as 16 appointments of ‘favourites’, six appointments of retired officials and financial irregularities in NCA cafeteria were also mention in the letter.

The letter accused NCA Principal Dr Murtaza Jafri of holding two posts at a time, ignoring the college registrar in decision making, embezzlement of finances, favouritism in awarding the contract of college cafeteria, and holding unnecessary meetings and activities to increase the cafeteria’s bill. The letter stated that according to NCA Statutes, “A principal cannot make appointments of BPS 16 and above, as the NCA board of governance was formed for that purpose, but Dr Murtaza had appointed several blue-eyed officials including Ayesha Shaukat as student coordinator, Shazar Tanveer as MA Hons Visual Arts administrator, Muhammad Waseem as head of quality enhancement, Samia Vine as MA Hons Visual Arts coordinator, Maryam Arif as NCA Gallery assistant curator and NCA Medical Officer Qamar Ahmad as examination officer.

Moreover, several blue-eyed officials were also appointed on key posts by neglecting the criteria of evaluation, instructions of HEC and orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. These officials include Syed Shabbir Hussain as financial consultant, Prof Sarwat Ali as Musicology Department consultant, Shehnaz Malih as first year foundation course coordinator, Gohar Qalam as calligrapher, Javed Akhtar as chief security officer, Masood Javed as CCRS director.

Interestingly, the letter also blamed Principal Dr Murtaza Jafri for running NCA Cafeteria himself through his family members, as the contractor, Syed Faseeh, was the nephew of Dr Murtaza, while the contract was given without publishing any tender. The letter stated that the contractor was supposed to hire staff in cafeteria and award them salaries, but all the salaries of the cafeteria staff were being paid from the college’s Student and Endowment Fund, which was illegal. Similarly, the furniture and equipment of the cafeteria was also bought from the college fund.

Principal Dr Murtaza Jaffri, upon contact, told Daily Times that NAB had asked about the appointment of retired officials and the administration provided them with all the data of retired officials and professors. He said that several teachers, who were over the age of 60, were teaching as part of the visiting faculty, and were not regular employees of the NCA.

There is no specific age limit for visiting faculty as anyone could hire their services, he said, adding that NCA was an institution running only on salary budget and financial irregularities in such a college were meager baseless rumours.