Pending departmental inquiry, the State Government on Friday suspended from service a college lecturer who is the key accused in the LLB marks scam.
He is accused in the manipulation of marks of some students who had appeared for the LLB examinations of Mangalore University in October-November 2008. Marks were awarded to candidates who never appeared for the examinations.
The accused, Stephen Quadros, a selection grade History lecturer at the Government First Grade College, Car Street, has been ordered not to leave the headquarters without written permission from the competent authority.
The Government Order (ED-262, DCE, 2010), a copy of which is available with The Hindu , said that Mr. Quadros had been suspended from service until further orders.
Earlier, the university had written to the Government twice on May 5 and June 3 that Mr. Quadros had been found guilty in the case and recommended disciplinary action against him.
At the same time, Konaje police had registered a case (crime number 45/2010) against Mr. Quadros after the university filed a complaint to this effect. The teacher had been booked under Sections 468 and 477 (A) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 74 of the Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000.
Section 468 refers to forgery for purpose of cheating and Section 477 (A) deals with falsification of accounts. Section 74 deals with obligation to perform the examination work.
The FIR had been registered on May 29, 2010, on the basis of a complaint filed by P.S. Yadapadithaya, Registrar (evaluation) of the university.
Konaje police told The Hindu that Mr. Quadros had obtained anticipatory bail and hence police could not arrest him.
The preamble of the Government Order said that an inquiry committee of the university had found him guilty in the manipulation of marks.
It said that Mr. Quadros, who was the co-ordinator for tabulation work, had violated the examination rules and did not carry out the responsibilities entrusted on him properly.
The order said that marks had been manipulated while entering it from “A Form” to the university ledger.
The A Form was the one on which the evaluators entered marks. Marks had been given to those candidates who had not appeared for the examinations and they had been entered in the ledger. While transferring the marks from A form to the ledger, marks of some students have been changed.
Instead of reporting the absence of tabulator to the university, he used the services of an unauthorised person to do so, the order said.
It said that Mr. Quadros produced fake documents to show that another person had been assigned the tabulation work and forged his signature.
The order said that if convicted, he could be punished with imprisonment for up to three years or with a fine of up to Rs. 2,000 or with both.
Reacting to this, Vice-Chancellor T.C. Shivashankara Murthy said: “It is good that the Government had taken action. It should send a message to others and serve as a lesson.”
