The Examination Centre inquiry,conducted by retired Justice K C Gupta,has indicted 14 Panjab University employees. It also rebutted the controller of examinations claim that the illegal change in exam centre was a mistake made due to rush of work. The report was recently submitted to Vice-Chancellor Prof R C Sobti. I have not read the report,but it will be presented at the next Syndicate meeting, he said. Recommending action against the guilty,the report has raised serious concerns over the possibility of this practice being prevalent in the university for years and also the possibility of the employees accruing financial benefits. Those indicted include two deputy registrars (DR),one assistant registrar (AR),two superintendents,two assistant section officers (ASO),one clerk,one superintendent at Mukstar,one centre clerk,one examination coordinator at Mukstar and two students Simranjeet Dhillon and Navjot Saini. A clerk who prepared the pasting has been already transferred for his involvement. In the probe,conducted over two months,over a dozen employees of the University examination branch from the superintendent to the Controller of Examinations Prof A K Bhandari were questioned by Justice Gupta. Third probe The Vice-Chancellor had earlier ordered an inquiry by Prof S K Sharma from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Prof Vijay Chopra from the Department of Evening Studies. This was conducted last year and the report was submitted in August. The 60-page report had recommended legal action against all those involved,including the students. It had also attached documentary proof,including forensic report of around 25 handwritten pages of the pasting. Another probe by Senators Prof R P Bambha and Varinder Kumar Sibal was marked by the Vice-Chancellor as well. Justice Gupta conducted the third inquiry. The case The case involves a post facto change in examination centre of two sixth semester law students Simranjeet Dhillon and Navjot Saini from Chandigarh to Muktsar. One of the students had a compartment in one of the subjects. When their exam details were inspected,it was detected by two daily wage clerks Jyoti and Harish that the students had not appeared in the exams at their allotted centre. Later,it was found that they had appeared at the Mukstar centre. Investigations revealed that one of the students had submitted a post facto medical certificate,which was forged. Another student had submitted a prescription list and not even a medical certificate. As per rules,the application for change in examination centre should be received a month in advance in the prescribed form alongwith a fee. It was found that the pasting (list of roll numbers and class of candidates) was also prepared post facto. There was no such application. The probe concluded that the Examination section,which deals with the Law department,had no clue about the switch in exam centre. It was done by another section that has no authority in the matter at all.
