Madras University debars 800 pupils for exam fraud

CHENNAI: The

syndicate

of University of Madras on Friday decided to debar 800 students who were found, after an inquiry, to have manipulated their distance education examinations in November and December 2016.

TOI had reported the scam in November last year, which was being investigated by a syndicate sub-committee. The students appeared for their exams at the university’s Mysuru, Hyderabad and Mumbai distance education centres. The committee found manipulations like impersonation, different handwriting across answer sheets and different signatures. During inquiry, some admitted not writing the exam. The report was tabled in Friday’s meeting.

The students will be debarred for a period of three years, wherein they won’t be able to write exams or join any university, said vice-chancellor P Duraisamy. “Only 45-50 students were found to be genuine. Their results will be released. The committee cross-verified the signatures of candidates and the hall superintendents and found disparities, which was a crucial evidence,” he said. This will send out a strong message to wrong-doers, he added. The university has already closed down all distance education centres outside Tamil Nadu and has brought in a rule where students will henceforth have to come to a centre in the state to write the IDE exams.

However, the investigating committee could not find evidence of wrong-doing against any university official in its report.

The university’s internal committee, consisting of the registrar and controller of examinations (in-charge), has also conducted a preliminary inquiry into a separate issue — the theft of many paper cartons which also contained some

answerscripts

from the scam mentioned above. However, the university had made copies of the answerscripts being investigated, Duraisamy said. “There seems to be a well-planned conspiracy to make money from selling the papers. University staff have been found to be non-vigilant,” he said, based on the report submitted. Sources said that the needle of suspicion pointed towards six staff members who gave identical answers during the inquiry, as if they had been coached. Two are likely to be suspended.

The university has filed a complaint with the Anna Square police station, but an FIR has not yet been filed. Approaching the police commissioner for a speedy probe was discussed in the meeting, sources said.

The syndicate has also resolved to set up a Chair in the name of former chief minister M G Ramachandran. This was proposed by former Chennai mayor Saidai Duraisamy, who also contributed Rs 25 lakh to the cause. Syndicate members said a fund of at least Rs 3 crore was needed to pay the salary of a professor for the chair. “We will approach the state government to institute an MGR centre,” Duraisamy said.


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