THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The controversy over the missing answer-scripts of 71 third semester MBA students of Kerala University has refused to die down.
Based on the complaint of a student, the Kerala Lok Ayukta has directed the university to award the average marks scored in other papers of the semester for the missing paper of the candidate.
The directive has come at a time when the university had already conducted a re-examination on April 7 for the 71 students in which the 65 candidates who appeared passed. Another re-examination has been scheduled for April 22 for candidates who could not appear on April 7. Besides, the university has also published the third semester results of the other students of the 2022-24 batch.
The student who did not appear for the re-examination approached the Lok Ayukta which issued an interim order directing the Controller of Examinations, University of Kerala, to award average marks to the complainant for the missing paper ‘Project Finance’.
The third semester examinations were conducted from April 22 to May 31, 2024. Even after the completion of the fourth semester examinations, the Kerala university had failed to publish the results. According to the complainant, university authorities had not furnished any explanation for not publishing the results. The Lok Ayukta observed that no individual should be penalised for no fault of their own.
“Human memory fades over time, and forgetting academic content is natural — particularly in the absence of preparation for a re-examination. The burden of revisiting and preparing the same syllabus after a long gap is unreasonable,” a division bench of the Lok Ayukta said.
In view of the uncertainty over the results of other students of the MBA third semester following the Lok Ayukta order, the university has decided to take legal recourse.