UGC sends letter seeking BRU syndicate’s decision

BRU Correspondent :

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has sought syndicate’s decision against Assistant Professor Md. Yusuf of the Department of History and Archaeology of Begum Rokeya University (BRU) in Rangpur for getting a job by forging results.

On Thursday, the decision was sought in a letter signed by Dr. Mohibul Ahsan, Additional Director, Department of Public University Management, UGC. The letter mentioned that Golam Rabbani, Associate Professor of the Department of History and Archaeology, asked the commission to send the report of the fact-finding committee formed by the university regarding the employment of Md. Yusuf, a teacher of the same department, by forging a certificate.

Earlier, after verifying the veracity of the allegations of certificate forgery against this teacher, evidence of certificate forgery was also found in the information of the Education Board. In view of that, another higher investigation committee was formed in the 118th Syndicate meeting on November 26.

When the university sent Md. Yusuf’s educational qualification certificate to the Rajshahi Education Board to verify it, the board said that the HSC certificate that Yusuf submitted did not match their records. Although his submitted result had a GPA of 3.01, according to the board’s records, his actual GPA was 2.90. According to the conditions of appointment, a minimum GPA of 4 is required in either secondary or higher secondary, which Yusuf did not meet in any way.

It is known that a notification published on February 15, 2011 for the appointment of lecturer/assistant professor in the history department clearly mentioned that a minimum ‘A’ grade in either SSC or HSC is required. However, Yusuf obtained a GPA of 3.50 in SSC and 3.01 (or actually 2.90) in HSC, which does not meet the conditions of the notification. Still, he was appointed.

According to the university’s registrar’s office, no planning committee was formed for Yusuf’s appointment. Rather, the syndicate canceled his appointment, but the legal obligation to inform the chancellor was avoided. In the meantime, Yusuf filed a writ in the High Court and implemented the appointment. The university administration did not appeal in this regard.

According to the documents received, there are allegations of irregularities in the appointment process. Although only one permanent post was advertised for the post of lecturer, three people were recommended for appointment. Although the written appointment notice mentioned ‘one permanent lecturer post’, the word ‘one’ was crossed out with a pen and written by hand as ‘three’. Although Yusuf was recommended first in the list of those three, his name was mysteriously written as ‘serial number 2’ before it. These irregularities and fraud were mentioned in the written complaint of the university’s associate professor Golam Rabbani. Based on his complaint, an investigation committee was formed and with the help of the Rajshahi Education Board, evidence of fraud in the results was found.
Even though the accused teacher Md. Yusuf was called several times, he did not receive it. Besides, he did not reply to any messages sent on WhatsApp.
In this regard, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Dr. Shawkat Ali, said, “The UGC wants to know, we will inform you. We will give you the syndicate’s decision.”