The Professors' Forum of Madras University has appealed to the State Government to initiate a Crime Branch CID inquiry into the malpractices that surfaced recently pertaining to the B.E./B.Tech and distance education examinations conducted last year.
The scandal has tarnished the image of the University, the forum declared in a letter, urging the Chief Minister to “take necessary steps to change the sorry state of affairs at the University.”
The University of Madras recently replaced its registrar Leo Alexander, after an audit report linked him to irregularities in the B.E./ B. Tech exams for students who had enrolled more than 10 years ago. The audit indicted 51 officials of the University for malpractices in engineering (arrears) examinations and exams conducted by the Institute of Distance Education.
A member of the forum alleged that the matter first came to light when a data entry personnel noticed that a candidate had cleared 36 papers at one go. “He reported the matter to the controller of examinations, who then wrote to the Vice Chancellor, after which the whole set of papers, was sent for a second evaluation. This revealed that only seven of the 220 papers had passing marks.”
But even after this instance of glaring malpractice surfaced, the V-C did not take any immediate action, but proceeded to form three successive committees to look into the matter, whose proceedings went on for 11 months, the member said.
The Forum also raised concerns over removal of portions in the audit report that recommended a police enquiry. Mr. Alexander was being targeted for bringing the issue of malpractices to light and was even forced to resign from the post of Registrar, the Forum said.
University of Madras Vice Chancellor G Thiruvasagam, however, said the every decision in this context was being taken with the approval of the Syndicate members. He said that the enquiry was conducted in a very systematic way and that action was initiated as soon as he was informed about the malpractices.
The university had first constituted a Syndicate Committee headed by Prof. S. Karunanidhi, which recommended the filing of chargesheets against 30 officials, including seven superintendents at exam centres. “We went for an external audit with the most experienced and trusted people in the panel because the internal audit gave primary observations and the syndicate members sought more clarifications,” the V-C said.
“Nothing has been proven so far and those indicted will be investigated, and only then will we get to the culprits,” he said, adding that Mr. Leo Alexander had resigned on his own, and was not forced to do so. The indicted officials will now face an inquiry from K. Aludiapillai, a retired IAS officer and former V-C of Madurai Kamaraj University.
