ABVP has demanded a probe from the vice-chancellor of Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU) after authorities of MTB Arts College in Surat opened three question papers of the Semester 4 Bachelor of Arts (BA) a day before the exam. A fact-finding team, comprising four professors and headed by Professor Falguniben Thakker, has been appointed to look into the incident. On Saturday, ABVP members staged a dharna at VNSGU campus and handed a memorandum to the vice-chancellor Dr. Kishorsinh Chawda demanding a fact-finding committee to take action. Sources said the university authorities have also asked for CCTV footage of the strong room of MTB Arts College. The university authorities used to send question papers on the eve of the exam to the affiliated colleges in Surat. Sources in the university said that, as per the rules, the question paper sealed bundles should be opened only on the same day of the exams. The Semester 3 exams for Arts students commenced on October 11 and the students were giving offline exams on the college campus. The ABVP leaders learned that the incharge principal of MTB Arts College had adopted the practise of opening the question papers on the eve of the exams. ABVP members contacted the principal and sought an explanation on the same. “On October 11, we opened the question paper bundle on the same day of exams but we faced lots of problems due to a shortage of staff. We even had to separate the OMR sheet from the question papers, so it takes a lot of time. On October 12, 13 and 14, we decided to open the sealed bundles a day before in the evening in a strong room and separate them so that we could give them on time to the students the next day at 11.00 am. I and two others, including a helper and a professor, were involved in separating the OMR and question papers in the strong room," Bhavnaben Champaneria, incharge principal of MTB Arts College, told The Indian Express. “The university should have sent question papers and OMR sheets separately but the workload had been put on the college authorities. Not a single exam paper was leaked and we worked carefully. Today, we opened the university-sealed bundle on the same day as the exam. We also have CCTV footage and we will hand it over to fact-finding team of VNSGU," she added. ABVP Surat Secretary Manoj Jain said, “The paper has not been leaked but opened a day ago in the strong room of MTB college. We want the university to set paper and OMR sheet separately to the affiliated colleges so that such incidents cannot be repeated and also check whether any irregularities are done in MTB College or not.” VNSGU VC Dr Chawda said, “We have set up a team to probe into the allegations made by the ABVP. We will also work in the direction of sending question papers and OMR sheets separately.”
