Afghan student's admission under review at university

He was disqualified by USOL allegedly for forging documents

Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 22

Panjab University (PU), according to the sources, is now in the process of reviewing the admission case of an Afghan national, Khalil Ali Khel, who was earlier disqualified by the University School of Open Learning (USOL) allegedly for forging documents.

Khalil had applied for admission to the third semester of political science this year. However, on October 4, the chairperson of USOL sent a communication to Khalil informing him that his documents were found to be forged. The communication reads: “You are found guilty of tempering with your own certificates. The worthy Vice-Chancellor has disqualified you for three years for submitting ssion of tempered documents.”

The information regarding the matter was then sent to the Syndicate, from where it reached the Senate. Sources revealed that a section of Senators, after hearing Khalil’s side of the story, have pressed upon reviewing his case in the light of natural justice. “He met a few Senators and informed them that his friend had submitted his documents, which were apparently tempered with. In fact, he has also filed a police complaint in this regard,” a source informed.

When contacted, Madhurima Verma, Chairperson of USOL, said, “Khalil had applied through online admission portal, post which he was summoned for the physical verification of the documents. The official, while scrutinising his documents, had found that he had a reappear in two papers of Masters in Arts (first semester) of Political Science, but the documents he had brought along didn’t indicate that. The matter then was brought to the department. After a meeting with the department’s administrative committee, the Controller of Examination, Dean International Students and the Vice-Chancellor were intimated about the forgery, following which Khalil was disqualified as per the rules.”

The issue of Khalil’s disqualification was discussed in the Syndicate meeting held in November and was brought to the Senate also. “The PU authorities are now looking into the issue after it was discussed in the Syndicate. Any decision in this regard is yet to be taken,” said Controller of Examination Prof Parvinder Singh.

Dean International Students Nandita Shukla communicated through the PU spokesperson that the issue was being dealt with “directly by USOL” and that it was never brought to her notice.