HYDERABAD, Feb 14: The Jeay Sindh Students’ Federation, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology unit, has accused the university administration of malpractices and warned that if its 22-point charter of demand was not immediately accepted, they will launch a protest movement from Monday.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club on Wednesday, MUET JSSF president Abdul Razzaq Jamali said that due to introduction of self-finance scheme for admissions, the classrooms were overcrowded and the students had to sit on stairs to hear lectures.

He said that the admission fees was being increased by Rs2,000 every year as a result a new entrant now had to pay Rs16,000 as admission fee and Rs4,000 as hostel fee.

He said that there was acute shortage of books and sitting arrangements in the central library where only 70 chairs were available for over 6,000 students. He said that no newspapers, magazines or journals were available in the library.

He alleged that only 50 out 70 point buses were available for the students. The JSSF leader pointed out that the Sindh Governor had announced 20 additional point buses for the university but only 12 buses were purchased.

He wondered where the money for remaining buses had gone and demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter.

He said that due to shortage of hostel accommodation, a large number of students were forced to live in hotels or rented houses.

He said that unlike the Sindh University, no book fair was ever held in the MUET, where students could purchase books at discount.

Accusing the controller of examinations of malpractices, he said that fake mark sheets and certificates were being issued with impunity and added that even the vice-chancellor had admitted the fact. He said that announcement of results was always delayed by six months but a student could know his result immediately by paying Rs10 to the concerned clerk.

The JSSF leader lamented that while the auditorium of the university was available to the friends of vice-chancellor and teachers for holding marriage ceremonies, it was not available to the students for holding any function.

Similarly, he said, the ambulance remained in the use of the hostel provost and his family but it was not used to take an ailing student to a hospital.

He said that there was acute shortage of water and washrooms and the students had to form queue outside the washroom.

Mr Jamali said that if any student raised voice against the problems, his parents were summoned and threatened by the university administration.

UNIVERSITY VERSION: Rejecting the allegations, a spokesman of the university said in a statement that self-financing scheme was in vogue in all the universities in the country and that fees had never been increased by the MUET.