The Express Tribune

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Wednesday blacklisted three more professors for plagiarism.This takes the total number of professors blacklisted by the commission to 40, even though varsities have apparently stopped bothering to take action against such faculty members.The HEC’s plagiarism review committee earlier this week had decided to blacklist Muhammad Nadeem, a member of the Shaheed Zufikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) Karachi chapter’s computer science and software engineering faculty.The authority had also blacklisted two professors of University of Sindh including Professors G A Sahito and K H Lashari from the Department of Fresh Water Biology and Fisheries.Apart from those blacklisted, the HEC’s review committee is currently deliberating 38 cases. At least six cases are sub-judice.While the number of blacklisted teachers is rising steadily, none of them have so far faced the consequences of the HEC’s decisions.Most of these professors continue to work as usual because while the HEC can blacklist them, it has no legal provision to take actual punitive action against them apart from sending reminders to vice chancellors of the concerned varsities.All the HEC can do is to withdraw benefits such as travel and research grants, HEC approved supervisor, best teacher award for a period of two years.The HEC, in a letter to Sindh University’s vice chancellor, wrote about the two professors that “since the university has not responded, the authors will be blacklisted and copy will be forwarded to all universities.”The letter, however, has not seemed to induce any action.Similarly, Dr Muhammad Sher of the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) was blacklisted in January 2015. However, he has continued to teach at the Department of Computer Science undisturbed.Published in, September 29, 2016.