A special meeting of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) is being called to consider the case of plagiarism after the University of Punjab decided in a meeting of the Syndicate only to mildly reprimand its faculty members involved in plagiarism.
Chairman HEC, Dr Atta-ur-Rahman has referred the matter to the Commission, which will consider measures to deal with the problems arising from intellectual theft.
Apart from the possibility of freezing of future grants and further funding for their projects for the University the Commission will deliberate other measures to curb further instances of plagiarism in universities.
HEC under rules of its Ordinance has set up a three-member Ethics Committee to be headed by Dr Qasim Jan, (Vice Chancellor, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad) including Dr Haroon Rashid, (Vice Chancellor University of Peshawar, Peshawar) and Dr Riaz-ul-Haque Tariq, (Professor Department of Education, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan and former Vice Chancellor of University of Sargodha), to look in detail the issue of plagiarism committed by the faculty members of the Centre of High Energy Physics and recommend suitable action.
The Committee, according to a press release on Thursday, will submit its report within 15 days, which will be sent to the University's Chancellor, Governor of the Punjab as well as President of Pakistan in his capacity as the Chairman of the Chancellor's Committee.
The action has been taken after the University of Punjab failed to take strict action against Dr Fazl-e-Aleem, Director, Rashid Ahmad, Sohail Afzal Tahir, M Alam Saeed and Maqsood Ahmad, faculty members of the Centre for Higher Energy Physics who have copied excerpts of an article by renowned physicist Professor Chris Llewellyn Smith, former Director General European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) and got it published as if it was their own work in "Science in Africa" a South African international publication without acknowledging any reference to the original author.
Complaints concerning the intellectual theft were made to the Chairman HEC as well as to Vice Chancellor of Punjab University by the Dr John Ellis, Adviser to Director General CERN, Geneva on May 3, 2006.
Members of the Commission include Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, Chairman HEC, Dr Akram Sheikh, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Dr Sohail Naqvi, Executive Director HEC, Abdur Razzak Dawood, Rector, Lahore University of Management and Sciences, Lahore, Jehangir Bashar, Secretary, Ministry of Education Islamabad, Pervez Butt, Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology, Islamabad, Dr Qasim Jan, Vice Chancellor, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Dr Pirzada Qasim Siddiqui, Vice Chancellor, University of Karachi, Mazharul Haq Siddiqui, Vice Chancellor, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Shamsh Kassim Lakha, Ex-President and Trustee, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Ajmal Khan, Vice Chancellor, Gomal University D I Khan, Ms Sadia Rashid, President Hamdard Foundation, Karachi, Shahzad Alam, Chief Executive of Unitech Electronic (Pvt), Lahore, Syed Mubasher Raza, Special Secretary Higher Education, Government of Punjab Lahore, Ms Nighat Agha, Ex-Senator, Mrs Nadira Panjwani, Chairperson, Panjwani Foundation and Trusts, Karachi and Dr Syed Mohsin Raza, Meritorious Professor and Dean Faculty of Physical Sciences, University of Balochistan, Quetta.
Comments
Comments are closed.