Karachi:January 20:As many as 100 candidates who are aspiring to gain admission to different departments of the University of Karachi (KU) requested the Complaints and Grievance Committee of the university on Thursday to redress their grievances.

A meeting of the committee was called to discuss the cases submitted by the candidates. The committee was constituted on January 4 by Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqi to review admission-related problems. The last date for the submission of applications was January 16.

The KU administration had said on January 16 that they had received around 25 applications, but on Thursday they said there were over 100 individual complaints, and that students had informed the university that though their names were included in the final merit list they were still unable to submit their admission fees.

At least five applicants complained that they were neglected during the admission process. They claimed that although they had high percentages in their previous exams, they were neglected by the administration because they did not take their exams from a Karachi-based examination board.

As per the KU rules and regulations, priority is given to students who appear in exams conducted by Karachi-based examination boards. If there are still vacant, the KU considers applicants from all over Sindh. In case seats are still left vacant in a particular department, candidates from other parts of the country could take admission.

If these conditions were not met, applicants would not be considered during the admission process, said Pro Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Shahana Urooj Kazmi.

When asked how the number of applications rose from 25 to 100, she replied that most of the students submitted their applications to different offices, and that the exact figure only came to light during the committee meeting.

In a reply to a question, Kazmi said the director of the admission committee would contact candidates whose names were mentioned in the final merit list but they were unable to submit their fees.

He (the admission committee director) would also verify the status of the incomplete applications and submit his report to the next meeting of the committee, she further said.

According to admission committee director Professor Dr Khalid Iraqi, the committee will check the availability of seats in departments, and if there were seats available, then these students would be given admissions; otherwise, the decision would be made by the committee.

“We have received complaints in which candidates claim that they could not submit their fees due to the unavailability of the equivalence certificate or other documents, or that they did not have money to submit their fees before the deadline,” he said, adding that the committee had agreed to give another chance to such candidates.

Pro VC Kazmi is the convener of the committee, while the dean of the Faculty of Management and Administrative Sciences, Professor Dr Abu Zar Wajidi, Director Admission Committee Iraqi and the students’ adviser are its members.The news.