Srinagar: The University of Kashmir (KU) Tuesday rebutted a story carried by Greater Kashmir newspaper titled “Favoritism has a face in KU”.
The KU spokesman in a statement issued here said that the contents of the news story were far from the truth and appear to have been deliberately twisted to suit a particular narrative aimed at tarnishing the reputation of the individual and the institution.
About the validity of the degree of Director IT Department at KU, the spokesman said a court case filed by a former Scientist of the university regarding quashing of PhD degree of Dr Maroof and declaring him ineligible for the post of Director IT, and appointing the petitioner as Director IT without re-advertising the post was dismissed by the court, thus rendering the allegations against the official as null and void.
“The allegation that the official’s EMBA-IT degree is invalid is baseless in view of the fundamental fact that the said degree or course has been offered by IGNOU, a central university, whose programmes are duly recognised by the erstwhile Distance Education Council (DEC). Since it was a Master’s Degree Course, the question related to the equivalence holds no merit,” the KU spokesman said.
The spokesman said that the Research Unit of KU issued a notification with regard to equivalence for research scholars who had done their M Phil or Post Graduation from institutions other than the KU and whose admission, registration for PhD was granted by the BORS and or whose registration was in the pipeline.
“The application for PhD degree of the candidate was duly processed under norms and cleared by the Departmental Research Committee and other statutory bodies. The Academic Clearance was granted as per norms and the viva-voce was conducted as per the statutes,” the statement said.
“Since the functionality of the PhD degree involved computer sciences, the degree was accordingly awarded in the concerned faculty,” it reads.
The spokesman said that other academic credentials and records of the official are transparent and have been scrutinised and verified at appropriate times.
“The rotation policy for headship applies to teaching departments and not to service units of the university. The official has been functioning as Senior-Most Scientist of the Directorate as In-Charge Director without involvement of any emoluments and based on the satisfactory performance,” the statement reads.
“The promotions under CAS are processed and granted as per the guidelines of the scheme and the promotion of Scientists of Directorate has been granted as per norms and strictly as per proper procedure,” it reads.
The spokesman said that the medical reimbursement claim to the official was not granted as any exception as such treatment has been meted out to other government employees and their family members in J&K for this type of a dreadful disease under norms.
Greater Kashmir had already taken a version of Registrar KU to balance the story. The registrar had already given his version regarding the degree of Director IT and medical reimbursement granted to the scientist by the varsity administration.
GK’S RESPONSE TO REBUTTAL
As per the documents, the case was filed by Dr Muheet Ahmed Butt who was ex-KUTA president from November 2017 to February 2020. In the case the KUTA demanded that equivalence should be given to EMBAIT with MCA, M Tech, MSc IT for making him eligible and only then his Ph. D. degree should be issued. But when Dr Muheet was terminated from his services, he had no claim to fight the case and so that case was dismissed by the High Court as being infructuous.
The degree possessed by Director IT is an 18 months course and is floated in online mode as per the advertisement. U21 Global University is not UGC recognised and UGC in its notification has made it quite clear that online programmes are not recognised and the copy has been sent to KU as well, as per the documents.
If this course is given recognition then UG colleges will have to be closed as the students will directly go to the master programme after completing their 10+2. This course is scrapped by IGNOU and even IGNOU has responded in one communication that such candidates are not eligible for PhD in Computer Sciences.
There is grave fraud done by the DRC of the Department of Computer Sciences Department and even at BORS so how could these two committees have made this online course equivalent to M. Tech, MSc (IT) or MCA.
The course does not even fit the guidelines for equivalence of degrees as per University of Kashmir notification.
Also, the incumbent in charge Director IT is not the senior most scientist of the Directorate, as per available documents. His appointment was made in December 2005 while Dr Majid Zaman was appointed in March 2004, the documents reveal.
Also, Maroof Qadri does not have 55 percent aggregate marks in his BE and he is not eligible for the scientist position as well, as per the documents.
The University has maintained silence on the existence of the basic post of Information Technologist on which Qadri was appointed. It was neither created by the council nor does it exist on the University Schedule of Establishment.
Keeping in view the facts, Greater Kashmir completely stands by the content of the story published in the newspaper on January 16.