President Unhappy with HEC’s Attestation Delay

News Desk

Islamabad: President Dr Arif Alvi expressed disappointment over the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) delay in attesting a former student’s degree, siding with Wafaqi Mohtasib’s directive for HEC to attest the degree within seven days. He also ordered an inquiry against the responsible official for causing a prolonged delay for the student.

The situation arose when Savera Afridi applied to HEC for attestation of her BA degree and DMC. However, she was informed that her 2020 session degree couldn’t be attested as HEC had phased out the two-year conventional B.A./B.Sc. program after 2019.

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In response, Afridi approached Wafaqi Mohtasib, who ruled in her favor despite HEC’s subsequent representations and a review petition, all of which were rejected. HEC later appealed against Mohtasib’s decision to the President, who held a personal hearing on the case and ultimately dismissed HEC’s representation.

President Alvi noted that Afridi had been admitted to the University of Peshawar for the 2019–2020 session, supported by a university letter from September 1, 2022, confirming her admission in January 2020. Highlighting that Afridi should not be penalized for any potential university violations of HEC’s policies, he emphasized the HEC’s responsibility to ensure compliance with its directives by universities.

The President criticized HEC for subjecting Afridi to undue hardship without fault on her part, instead of taking action against the non-compliant university. He urged HEC to reprimand universities for not adhering to its guidelines to prevent students from suffering due to institutional inaction.

President Alvi’s decision aimed to ensure that students do not bear the consequences of HEC or university negligence and stressed the importance of institutions upholding their obligations to prevent students from facing unnecessary challenges.