MALAPPURAM: The recent incident where 17 answer sheets of BA Economics and Sociology distance course went missing from Calicut University has raised serious concerns over the transparency of answer sheet evaluation in the varsity.
University staff reported the incident on September 24, following which a committee of two joint registrars conducted an internal inquiry. The answer sheets were recovered form a location that is yet to be disclosed. The staff organisation alleged the answer sheets were recovered from the house of a professor and demanded high-level police inquiry into the matter. The incident spurred protests at the varsity on Saturday.
Majority of the senate members rejected the plea to conduct a high-level police inquiry. Citing the rejection as undemocratic, the staff organisation conducted a dharna at the university.
“All answer sheets were present on the first day of assigning false numbers. However, on the second day, when university staff checked the total number of sheets, they found 17 of them missing in the 13 bundles of answer sheets that arrived from an examination centre,” said Manoj K F, the high-power committee member of Calicut University Staff Member Organisation.
“The internal inquiry did not consider CCTV footage. The laxity itself shows the involvement of high-level people in the crime. Recently, university authorities recovered the answer sheets from the house of a professor. Now, they refuse to consider it as evidence. It means someone wants to hide the incident,” said the organisation members. The staff organisation said they will begin an indefinite strike till a high-level police officer takes up the investigation into the incident. “Otherwise such incidents will repeat,” they said. Meanwhile, P Mohan, pro-vice-chancellor at the university, said he already informed the incident to the police.
“A teacher returned the missing answer sheets to us. We do not know how the teacher found it. We will soon quiz the teacher and inform the police,” said P Mohan.