The authorities at the state Pre-University Education (PUE) Department have been baffled ever since they came to know that the marks sheets issued by the Department were being tampered with.
Two months ago, while verifying the PU II marksheets sent by the Deputy Commissioners of some districts, the Department realised that the marks cards issued by them were being fudged.
In August 2013, the PUE Department received a request from the Deputy Commissioners of Tumkur, Mangalore, Udupi, Shimoga, Bijapur and Chikkaballapur districts for verification of marks cards of candidates who were recruited as village accountants in 2012.
During verification, officials at the duplicate marks cards section of the PUE department were shocked to see fake marks cards. Though the marks cards were issued by the Department, the scores were changed. It was difficult for the officials to spot the difference unless they compared it with the original records.
“We found around 70 fake marks cards of PU II courses. When we started comparing with our records, we found the marks altered in the certificates,” said a senior official from the duplicate marks cards section.
As per the information available with the Department, over 6,000 candidates were recruited for the posts of village accountant across the state in 2012. “The district authorities send marks cards for verification at the time of releasing salaries. Earlier, they sent photocopies, but we insisted on the originals,” an official added.
The department has now communicated to the district authorities concerned to further conduct enquiries about the fake marks cards submitted and also to submit a report in this regard.
“As they are the appointing authority, we cannot initiate action as we do not have any other documents of the candidate with us. Once we receive the report from district authorities, we will initiate action to trace the kingpin behind this,” an official said.
According to officials, tampering can be done using technology.
“We cannot ignore the issue, because people with fudged marks cards might have joined work. It could be that they scan the original marks card, make corrections using technology and take a fresh printout. It could be the handiwork of an organised racket involved in creating duplicate marks cards. We have decided to initiate an inquiry once we receive the report,” said an official.
The PUE Department gets at least 50 to 60 marks cards for verification every day but this is the first time they found tampered ones.