A Syndicate sub-committee of the Mahatma Gandhi University has recommended a penalty of ₹3 lakh on the autonomous Sacred Heart College, Thevara, here for violation of norms related to the fixing of the ratio of internal and external assessment of undergraduate students who completed their course this year.
The committee found that the college authorities fixed the ratio of external and internal assessment at 75:25 instead of the varsity’s prescribed norm of 80:20 for the students who joined various undergraduate courses in 2014. The change made in the evaluation pattern was not informed to the varsity, it said.
People close to the development told The Hindu that the decision on imposing a penalty for violating the norms had been conveyed to the management. Even though the college authorities had submitted the mark list of about 600 students of the undergraduate batch a month before, the varsity had not issued the degree certificates after finding out the anomalies in the evaluation pattern. The Syndicate sub-committee found that the college authorities failed to inform the varsity about the changes made in the evaluation pattern. This was considered a major deviation from the varsity rules and regulations, and a violation of the provisions related to the autonomous colleges under it.
Reacting to the development, Prashant Palakkapillil, Principal of Sacred Heart College, said that the decision to fix the ratio of external and internal assessment at 75:25 ratio was taken on the basis of an inference that an autonomous college enjoyed the powers to make such academic changes.
