Daily Times

In the light of directions given by the Governor Punjab and Chancellor of the University, the Syndicate of Sargodha University in its upcoming meeting will decide the fate of illegally appointed officials during the last 10 years.

The development came after the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab submitted a report to the Governor revealing over 4,500 illegal appointments in 12 public sector universities of Punjab. These illegal appointments (from BPS-1 to 16, and BS-17 and above were made without advertising vacancies, against the rules and service laws with a financial impact of Rs6061 million. The ACE Punjab recommended taking ‘strict legal action’ against those who involved in this scam.

According to a letter issued by the Governor Secretariat, the Chancellor of the University has directed to place the matter before the Syndicate to investigate the irregular/illegal appointments pointed out by the Director General ACE, Punjab.

The ACE Punjab report revealed that Muhammad Akram Chaudhary, former Vice Chancellor Sargodha University made 997 illegal appointments during his tenures 2010-11, 2011-15 and caused a loss of more than Rs1.84 billion to the public exchequer.

Similarly, former Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Ali, from April 2011 to October 2011, made 46 illegal appointments and caused a loss of more than Rs20 million to the exchequer. Ex-Acting Vice Chancellor Dr Zahoorul Hassan Dogar, made 52 illegal appointments during an interim charge from October 2015 to October 2016, and caused a loss of about Rs9 million to the national treasury. While, 4 without advertisement appointments were made during the tenure of incumbent Vice Chancellor Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad.

It is pertinent to be mentioned that Governor Secretariat has directed the university to submit a comprehensive report along with the well-defined recommendations and details of the corrective actions taken by the Syndicate within 60 days.