Islamabad: The guarantee submitted by Imran Taj, a PhD scholar who went to France on a scholarship, has been found to be fake. The Islamabad High Court has issued a 12-page written verdict regarding the case.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, in the decision, directed the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to avoid recovering PKR 25 million from the guarantor. The court also instructed the HEC to enforce stricter conditions for future student scholarship programs.
The court annulled a previous decision to recover €85,406 and PKR 76,386 from guarantor Abdul Waheed and ordered the HEC to reform its scholarship policies. It issued guidelines for stricter verification processes.
According to the judgment, Imran Taj applied for the overseas PhD scholarship on June 2, 2005, and entered into an agreement with the HEC on December 26, 2005. Taj guaranteed that he would serve in Pakistan for four years after completing his scholarship. However, he failed to return to Pakistan after completing his PhD in France.
As a guarantor, Abdul Waheed submitted property documents, which he later claimed were forged. Waheed denied signing the documents and requested verification by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The FIA’s forensic report, presented on September 14, revealed discrepancies in the signatures, including differences in speed, fluency, pen pressure, and hesitation.
The trial court did not attempt to confirm the authenticity of the signatures despite the guarantor’s objections. The High Court stated that the HEC may file a case against Imran Taj for using fake documents to obtain the scholarship.
