Tiruchi Chief Educational Officer (CEO) N. Ananthi on Monday informed the Madras High Court Bench here that the Tiruchi city police had not been able to trace till date 262 physics answer scripts that went missing during transit from Musiri to Coimbatore, through postal department, after the public examinations held for Plus Two students in March 2010.
Filing an affidavit in reply to a public interest litigation petition seeking compensation for the 262 students who had to appear for re-examination, the CEO also said that the Post Master General, Central Region, Tiruchi, had on June 21, 2013, imposed a punishment of compulsory retirement on a Sorting Assistant at the Head Record Office for the loss of the answer scripts.
According to the officer, the answer scripts of students of three government higher secondary schools in Ayyampalayam, Thandalaiputhur and Musiri were packed in a cloth bundle and booked at Musiri Post Office as Insured Parcel on March 8, 2010. However, the Liaison Officer of a valuation centre at Coimbatore did not receive the parcel and the issue was taken up with higher officials of the postal department.
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Subsequently, the Tiruchi Cantonment Police registered a First Information Report on the basis of a complaint lodged by the postal authorities and discouraged the school education department from lodging one more complaint on the same issue, the CEO said.
She pointed out that the case was “still under investigation as the lost parcel could not be traced.”
Further, stating that all the 262 students attended the re-examination held on April 22, 2010, the officer said that the answer scripts of the re-examination were evaluated quickly and the results of those students were published along with that of all other students in the State on May 14, 2010.
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“Thus the writ petition is misconceived, devoid of merits and deserves to be dismissed,” she said.