After the mark donation row, Mahatma Gandhi University has landed in yet another controversy involving a Syndicate member and the Vice Chancellor (VC).
The fresh round of controversy erupted after a letter written by R. Pragash, and endorsed by the VC, demanding the Controller of Examinations to provide the register numbers and corresponding false numbers (secret number being issued for answers-sheet valuation) of 31 students who had appeared in the MCom IVth semester examination in Advanced Cost Accounting surfaced here on Friday.
Official sources said both the letter and the permission granted by the VC amounted to violation of the university’s examination rules as it would break the confidentiality of the answer sheets. According to them, such details are strictly confidential, which cannot be demanded even by the VC.
“The monitoring cell at the university is the sole custodian of such details and it should be kept secret till all the processes related to examinations, including valuation, revaluation, and further valuations, are over,” they held.
‘For new software’
When contacted, Syndicate member R. Pragash confirmed issuing the letter but asserted that it was done well within his rights as a Syndicate member.
“The details were sought for the purpose of testing a new software developed by the university for publishing the revaluation results. While a preliminary testing of the tool had been conducted using dummy numbers, the details of a few random papers were sought to ascertain how the marks are reflected and whether the original registration numbers corresponding to the false numbers could be decoded, etc.,” he said.
He also sought to rubbish the allegations of a mark scam and stated that the result of these papers had already been published. “The marks scored by the students are known to everyone while you can also get the answer script upon paying just ₹500.
Even if it has been sought before revaluation, the Syndicate has every right to ask for such details,” added Mr. Pragash.
Meanwhile, the Left-backed MGU Employees Association on Friday came out in support of the university Syndicate in the special moderation issue. “The sheer number of applications received by the university seeking special moderation indeed suggests that the decision to award moderation was taken in line with the broad interests of the student community,” said V.P. Majeed, general secretary of the organisation.
Holding that the ongoing controversy was only intended to defame the Minister and his private secretary, Mr. Majeed also pointed out that the University of Calicut too had taken a similar decision to award a moderation of up to 20 marks for BTech students in 2012.
