Punjabi University to impose penalties on careless examiners

The penalty would have to be paid by the examiner within one month from the date of issue of the letter intimating levying of penalty and in case the honorarium for evaluation work has not been paid by then, the penalty amount may be deducted from the honorarium.

Also, if an examiner fails to pay the penalty within the stipulated time of one month, he would be debarred from all examination work of the university for at least two years.

Penalty to be imposed on checking assistant attached with examiners has also been finalised. The checking assistants would pay a penalty of Rs 20 per mistake in case of major mistakes, rectification of which, may entail alteration of the declared result, like a failed student being declared passed or vice-versa. In case of minor mistakes which do not entail alteration of the already announced result, the checking assistants would have to pay a penalty of Rs 10 per mistake.

These recommendations were made by a committee constituted by the university for a review of the present system of education. These recommendations have been approved by the university syndicate.

Taking a serious view of the mistakes creeping in at the decoding stage in the examination branch of the university, it has been decided that if an employee committed ten or more mistakes, his entire honorarium should be forfeited. In case the number of mistakes was nine or less, the employee would have to pay a penalty at the rate of Rs 50 per mistake.

The university has also decided to pay honorarium to the employees assigned with the task of preparing the detailed marks cards of the students. While the clerk preparing the card would get 20 paise per card, the senior assistant would get 12 paise per card and the superintendent would be paid five paise per card.

A penalty at the rate of Rs 100 per mistake would be levied on each team comprising the clerk, senior assistant and the superintendent. The detailed marks card of failed students would be signed by the superintendent while in case of successful candidates, the detailed marks card would be signed by the assistant registrar/deputy registrar.

A permanent committee for disposal of complaints has been constituted which would endeavour to avoid litigation in matters concerning complaints regarding examination work. The committee would have as its members, the dean of academic affairs, the controller of examinations, and a professor nominated by the vice-chancellor of the pro vice-chancellor every year. This committee would meet at regular intervals, and make recommendations to dispose of the complaints of the candidates.

It has also been made mandatory for employees to put their full signatures on every paper concerned with the preparation of examination result and ensuring this, would be the responsibility of the section head. This has been done because at times, it was found to be difficult to identify the employee and take action against him in case a mistake was detected because of the mere initials put by him/her.

The university has, in view of the shortage of space in its record rooms, decided that all records pertaining to university examinations from 1963 to 1980 be destroyed. However, the result gazettes would be preserved in case of all examinations conducted during this period. Result sheets in respect of examinations would be maintained for at least 10 years hence forth, it has further been decided.