Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Comsats Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) on Friday sacked its pro-rector Muhammad Haroon Rashid after suspension over his plagiarised thesis of PhD.

The CIIT board of governors (BoG) in its meeting held last week suspended the pro-rector and directed him to appear before the board on June 17. However, Rashid could not show up as he was abroad after which the BoG finally decided to terminate the pro-rector.

One of the sources in the meeting, requesting anonymity, stated that a few members suggested his removal status be considered from 2006, however, the board decided to consider his removal from June 6.

Chaired by CIIT’s Executive Director Dr.Imtanan Illahi, the hearing was attended by the Federal Education and Training Secretary Muhammad Humayun, Ministry of Science and Technology Secretary Fazal Abbas Maken, Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Dr Mukthar Ahmed and 17 other CIIT officials.

Rashid’s doctorate was cancelled on June 6 by an academic council formulated by the Preston University Islamabad. The Preston University had awarded him the doctorate in 2006.

Several complaints were filled with the HEC for alleged concealment of the degree thesis. On which the HEC Quality Assurance (QA) division probed the thesis through its plagiarism detection software ‘Turnitin’ which found 72 percent plagiarism in his thesis. The HEC on September 18 wrote to the Preston University for further investigation into the matter. In compliance with the HEC directive, the Preston University formed a four-member body for an impartial probe into the matter and submitted its report to the commission within the stipulated time, wherein the body concluded that the “thesis does not justify the award of a PhD degree”. Rashid then approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the HEC. In the petition he accused the HEC Chairman Dr Ahmed of waging a media war against him. The petition added that the HEC did not act according to its devised plagiarism policy which was applicable only for the students who got their degrees after 2007. However, the IHC on June 3 dismissed the case stating that it was “devoid of merit”.

According to the HEC anti-plagiarism bylaws, there were three categories of punishment for the person who was found accused of plagiarism. The penalty in major case is dismissal from service, while people involved in moderate plagiarism can be demoted or blacklisted. The minor penalty is a warning and freezing all research grants of the accused.

Haroon, however, has been sacked whereas his fate as the National Testing Service (NTS) chief executive is yet to be decided. The sources said that the future of NTS also come under discussion in the meeting. But Education Secretary Muhammad Humayun refrained to discuss. “The NTS is a private entity and the BoG has no concern with that,” an official quoted Humayun as saying.

A close aide of Rahid says that the PhD is not mandatory to be chief executive of the testing service.

Despite repeated calls and text messages, CIIT Rector Dr Junaid Zaidi did not respond. However, meeting participant Dr Mukhtar Ahmed confirmed the decision.