Responding to the notice issued by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) senior officials of the Bahria University , Islamabad , appeared before the Commission to explain as to why proceedings under Section 38 of the Competition Ordinance may not be initiated against the University. The hearing of the case was held on June 16, 2008 at the CCP Office. Dr. Joseph Wilson, Member CCP conducted the hearing. Rear Admiral Shahid Latif, Commander Mumtaz Raza and Cap. Tashfeen Riaz appeared on behalf of the University. The Member, after hearing the case and keeping in view all the facts placed before him observed in his order issued on Friday that since the University is providing educational services and now they have committed to comply with the Competition Law in future, the Commission is not imposing any penalty on the University. However, they have to refund the interest amount up to Rs.10 Million to the students who have purchased the laptops from University on installments and have been paying the interest cost. Further the University was ordered to stop the practice tying immediately. Taking notice of a news item published in the Daily "The News" on 16-02-2008 alleging that the students seeking admission in the Bahria College were being forced by the University authorities to buy old Laptops, the CCP decided to initiate an inquiry. Vide their letter dated March 04, 2008, the CCP asked the Rector of the University for their comments on the allegation made in the said report, mainly:- • Bahria College (the College) has made it mandatory for the new entrants to buy Laptops imported by the College; • 4500 Acer Laptops purchased in 2006 have been sold as a pre-condition to those who got admission in certain disciplines during 2007 and 2008; • A large number of students were reluctant to buy these Laptops as they already have their own but still they were made to buy these "Obsolete" machines to qualify for admission in the College; and • Almost 1500 machines still remain unsold and would be provided to the next batch of admission seekers of the College. In their reply vide letter dated April 11, 2008, the University Authorities admitted that they have been selling the Laptops to the students as it was considered the helpful tool for the students in their education specially in Information Technology. The University, however, informed the Commission that they have revised the policy and from the next semester, no student would be required to mandatorily purchase of Laptops from the University stocks. The University in its reply stated that it has initiated the scheme only to facilitate the students and enable them to make use of the digital library, e-teaching by faculty and other steps taken by the University to make the campus WiFi. The University also clarified that they bought the Laptops through a loan from Bank of Punjab and they were passing on all the payments received from the students to the Banks for repayment of their loan and the interest amount. During the hearing, officials of the Bahria University explained that the University imported 4500 Laptops keeping in view the number of students in both the campus of the University in Islamabad and in Karachi . He further explained that so far they have sold 3649 Laptops to the students, out of which 2327 have been sold on installments and 1322 on lump sum payment. The University, however, admitted that due to ignorance of the Competition Law they were unaware of the violation and as soon as they received the notice of the Commission, they stopped the sale of Laptops in the campus and also removed the mandatory requirement of purchase of Laptops. They further requested the Commission to take a lenient view in their case as they are a prime institution providing educational services to a number of students and they were ignorant of the violation. In an another matter on the 24 th of July CCP also heard 4 senior cement sector executives who were witnesses at the CCP inspection of APCMA office on 24 th April, 2008. The witnesses made their statements under oath. These statements will assist the CCP in its further proceedings.
Responding to the notice issued by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) senior officials of the Bahria University , Islamabad , appeared before the Commission to explain as to why proceedings under Section 38 of the Competition Ordinance may not be initiated against the University. The hearing of the case was held on June 16, 2008 at the CCP Office. Dr. Joseph Wilson, Member CCP conducted the hearing. Rear Admiral Shahid Latif, Commander Mumtaz Raza and Cap. Tashfeen Riaz appeared on behalf of the University. The Member, after hearing the case and keeping in view all the facts placed before him observed in his order issued on Friday that since the University is providing educational services and now they have committed to comply with the Competition Law in future, the Commission is not imposing any penalty on the University. However, they have to refund the interest amount up to Rs.10 Million to the students who have purchased the laptops from University on installments and have been paying the interest cost. Further the University was ordered to stop the practice tying immediately. Taking notice of a news item published in the Daily "The News" on 16-02-2008 alleging that the students seeking admission in the Bahria College were being forced by the University authorities to buy old Laptops, the CCP decided to initiate an inquiry. Vide their letter dated March 04, 2008, the CCP asked the Rector of the University for their comments on the allegation made in the said report, mainly:-
• Bahria College (the College) has made it mandatory for the new entrants to buy Laptops imported by the College;
• 4500 Acer Laptops purchased in 2006 have been sold as a pre-condition to those who got admission in certain disciplines during 2007 and 2008;
• A large number of students were reluctant to buy these Laptops as they already have their own but still they were made to buy these "Obsolete" machines to qualify for admission in the College; and
• Almost 1500 machines still remain unsold and would be provided to the next batch of admission seekers of the College. In their reply vide letter dated April 11, 2008, the University Authorities admitted that they have been selling the Laptops to the students as it was considered the helpful tool for the students in their education specially in Information Technology. The University, however, informed the Commission that they have revised the policy and from the next semester, no student would be required to mandatorily purchase of Laptops from the University stocks. The University in its reply stated that it has initiated the scheme only to facilitate the students and enable them to make use of the digital library, e-teaching by faculty and other steps taken by the University to make the campus WiFi. The University also clarified that they bought the Laptops through a loan from Bank of Punjab and they were passing on all the payments received from the students to the Banks for repayment of their loan and the interest amount. During the hearing, officials of the Bahria University explained that the University imported 4500 Laptops keeping in view the number of students in both the campus of the University in Islamabad and in Karachi . He further explained that so far they have sold 3649 Laptops to the students, out of which 2327 have been sold on installments and 1322 on lump sum payment. The University, however, admitted that due to ignorance of the Competition Law they were unaware of the violation and as soon as they received the notice of the Commission, they stopped the sale of Laptops in the campus and also removed the mandatory requirement of purchase of Laptops. They further requested the Commission to take a lenient view in their case as they are a prime institution providing educational services to a number of students and they were ignorant of the violation. In an another matter on the 24 th of July CCP also heard 4 senior cement sector executives who were witnesses at the CCP inspection of APCMA office on 24 th April, 2008. The witnesses made their statements under oath. These statements will assist the CCP in its further proceedings.
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