PAC directs HEC to recover Rs45.7m from ‘absconding’ scholars
The Public Accounts Committee has directed the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to recover an amount of Rs45.7 million from six PhD scholars who have absconded.
The development comes after an audit report of the Auditor General of Pakistan in which the six PhD scholars had been identified.
The scholars named Khurram Nadeem, Amna Shehzad, Noshaba Batool, Saima Ashfaq Khan, Saleem Jehangir and Qamar Sultan Gohar had gone to study abroad on the government-funded Faculty Development Programme (FDP) and slipped there there without any intimation.
HEC funded Faculty Development Programme (FDP) is aimed at enhancing capacity of universities by encouraging and rewarding the existing faculty. The absconding scholars had been granted scholarships in the disciplines of physics, applied physics, business administration, mathematics and statistics at educational institutions in Canada and the United Kingdom.
The audit report states: “During the scrutiny of records, it
was observed that professors were sent abroad for PhD and fee/stipend was paid
from FDP programme. The management of the university explained that the matter
was referred to the National Accountability Bureau for investigation.”
HEC Executive Director Shaista Sohail informed the PAC that
NAB had suggested filing legal suit against these professors in a court of law.
She said the HEC had filed a case for the recovery of the
said amount from these absconding scholars and the matter was sub judice.
Source: DAWN News
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