A separate examination was conducted for select students at the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) in June, Bangalore University Syndicate members alleged during a meeting here on Wednesday.
“In June, a month before the scheduled examination, a separate exam was held for a group of students from final-year B.E. The reason given was that they had applied for higher studies at the Indian Institutes of Management. But we suspect that it was done to favour some students from influential backgrounds,” alleged Syndicate member D.S. Krishna at the meeting.
Probe sought
Waving the question papers and OMR sheets of the examination, procured through the Right to Information Act, Mr. Krishna said: “How could this have not been brought to the notice of the Syndicate? This is an offence. The prescribed 90 days of classes before holding the exam were not completed. We demand a CID inquiry into this.”
In an attempt to defend the BU constituent college, Vice-Chancellor N. Prabhu Dev said: “UVCE sent us a proposal stating that a few students would miss out on other opportunities if they wait for the exam. With the consultation of the Registrar (Evaluation), we gave approval.”
However, the agitated Syndicate members demanded to know how this logic could be applied selectively, referring to a case last year in which seven Geology students lost a year for not being allowed to write their exam due to attendance shortage.
“If these [UVCE] students wrote the exam before the completion of 90 classroom days, they will also have attendance shortage,” said Mr. Krishna.
Later, talking to The Hindu, UVCE Principal K.R. Venugopal admitted that two exams were held for final-year students, one in June, another in July. While about 40 students took up the exam in June, the remaining 400-odd students wrote the exam in July.
“The curriculum was already delayed by a month due to various reasons. [Sources said this was due to a backlog of 15 days each in two semesters, one of which was because the UVCE campus was used for MLC elections.] These students would have lost out on life-changing opportunities had we not held the exam separately for them,” he said.
The VC has convened a special Syndicate meeting to discuss the matter. Registrar (Evaluation) R.K. Somashekar promised the Syndicate that all details would be readied before the discussion.
