Islamabad, February 11, 2022 (PPI-OT): There have been incorrect statements made to the press by Chairman HEC that he was removed from office because he tried to have the accounts of some research Centers in Karachi University audited that he claimed are supervised by Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman. The facts are as follows:
Prof. Atta-ur-Rehman has held no administrative position in any research centre or university for the last 20 years. No centers have been operating under his administrative or financial control since the year 2002. HEC had requested for academic and financial audit of International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences. The requests were strongly welcomed by the Center in writing. The only requirement of the Center was in connection with the academic audit that it should be carried out by experts in the relevant fields of chemistry and biology, which was reasonable.
An academic audit of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences was conducted by 11 international experts in 2018. It was commissioned by the Ministry of Science and Technology and in their report all the 11 foreign experts were unanimous in their praise of the high quality of research work being conducted in the Center, and had recommended additional financial support for it.
The Ministry of Education objected to the funding formula proposed by HEC for all university research centers and pointed out that it was not suitable, without precedence and that it would badly damage research. The issue therefore was never about the auditing of accounts or transparency, as has been wrongly portrayed by Chairman HEC in statements to the Press.
HEC had proposed to take away the autonomy and merge the budget of the International Center of Chemical and Biological Sciences with that of the University of Karachi. This was not possible as the government has a formal agreement with UNESCO that its financial autonomy will be maintained. This was pointed out by the Ministry of Education to HEC in writing.
This Center is the UNESCO Center of Excellence, the TWAS Center of Excellence, OIC Center of Excellence and the WHO Collaborating Center. Its faculty members have won more civil awards and international prizes than any other academic Center in Pakistan, including 1 Nishan-i-Imtiaz, 4 Hilal-i-Imtiaz, 13 Sitara-i-Imtiaz and 8 Tamgha-i-Imtiaz and many honorary doctorate degrees from foreign universities including the University of Cambridge UK.
The work of the Center has been praised by many Nobel Laureates https://iccs.edu/page-remarks-of-eminent-scientist the accounts of ICCBS are regularly audited by the government and are well maintained. The Center is headed by Prof. Iqbal Chaudhary, a leading scientist of Pakistan, since 2003.
For more information, contact:
Director (Media)
Higher Education Commission, Pakistan (HEC)
Sector H-9, Islamabad
Tel: +92-51-90402404, +92-51-90402412
Email: aikram@hec.gov.pk
Website: www.hec.gov.pk
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