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Friday, July 09, 2010

ECP yet to finalise course of action against fake degree holders

* Commission likely to send cases to district judges of respective constituencies
* Fake degree holders will be allowed to move courts before ECP disqualifies them

By Irfan Ghauri

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan is yet to announce a procedure for dealing with lawmakers whose degrees are declared fake by educational institutes after verification.

Though the ECP has not announced any such procedure, sources said public representatives whose educational certificates are declared fake would be given a chance to contest their cases in courts before being disqualified. The sources said the commission is likely to send the cases of fake-degree holders to district courts in their respective constituencies. Usually, the speakers of national or provincial assemblies and the chairman of Senate send references against lawmakers to the ECP for disqualification. However, the Supreme Court has directed the ECP to act on its own and take action against public representatives who contested the last general elections by submitting forged documents. ECP has not yet made public its future course of action, however, legal pundits of the present government say the commission is likely to adopt a lengthy and cumbersome procedure before taking final action against the fake degree-holders.

Another possibility is that such members themselves submit their resignations to the speakers of their respective assemblies. Such seats will be declared vacant then. The apex court has given three months to the ECP to complete the process of verification and initiate action against fake degree-holders. During a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Education on Thursday, Higher Education Commission chairman Dr Javed Leghari claimed that the commission would complete the verification process by July 16. He said that out of a total 1,109 certificates, the HEC had sent back 161 degrees to the ECP that were found to be irrelevant.

“A total of 877 degrees have been sent to 36 national universities, while 36 have been mailed to foreign universities. And 21 degrees have also been sent to religious seminaries for verification with July 15 as the deadline,” he told the lawmakers. The ECP has yet to respond to the 161 degrees and certificates that the HEC has sent back.

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

 

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