Profs debarred for fudging engg marks

The malpractices, discovered by the university-appointed observer have delayed the results of 6,000 students beyond the stipulated 45 days since the conclusion of the exams, on November 25, 1998. In his letterto the controller of examinations in December 1998, the observer states that overwriting and altering of marks were noticed in the general marksheets prepared by the three accused examiners.

For the second semester, answer-sheets of all the students were evaluated at VJTI as per the university8217;s Central Assessment Scheme. The observer, however, found that the marks of 14 students were changed by the three examiners in two papers Engineering Mechanics and Computer Programming.With each paper divided into two sections and each assessed by a separate examiner, the supervisor directs either one of them to enter the two sets of results into the marklist. However, in the Computer Programming-II paper, it was found that the marklist had been altered, giving rise to glaring discrepancies with the marks on the answer-sheets. In addition, marks on the answer-sheets had been changed by the same examiner who had awarded them in the first place. They had been augmented so that they approximated the minimum required topass.

In one instance, the overall marks of one student in the Computer Programming-II paper had been raised from 13 to 46. In another case, a student who had scored one mark in a particular question was shown to have scored 12 marks by the examiner in the general statement of marks. Another student who had scored just one mark, was awarded 40 extra marks in the marklist. The marks of another student was changed from two to 36. Worse still, it was found that two examiners had smuggled supplements attached to the main answer-sheets out of the assessment centre and allowed the students to rewrite the answers. This was executed with the help of the centre8217;s non-teaching staff.

University Pro Vice-Chancellor, Dr Naresh Chandra, told Express Newsline that since the marks were altered, the university had no option but to re-evaluate the 1,500 papers corrected by these examiners, thus delaying the results. If the Unfair Means Committee finds the examiners guilty of malpractice, they will be permanently debarredfrom examination work, he said.

The university has also dispatched two circulars to individual engineering colleges directing them not to give the three professors examinership. The first one, dated December 18, states that Prof P B Lomte of Terna Engineering College, Navi Mumbai, should not be associated with any examination work at any semester exam conducted by the university or by the college on behalf of the university. It also says Lomte should not be appointed as examiner in any subject, project work, oral or term till further orders, even though his name is on the panel of examiners. The second circular, dated January 30, states that Prof P M Kamde of Terna Engineering College and Prof R R Bothra of Lokmanya Tilak College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai, also should not be appointed as examiners till further orders.