Another exam fraud at BU exposed

A new anomaly in Bangalore University’s (BU) examination section was exposed by members of the Syndicate at a meeting on Wednesday, convened in the presence of media, possibly for the first time.

Syndicate member D S Krishna revealed what looked like a copy of an OMR sheet of the year 2009-10 signed by Special Officer (Exams) Syed Jamal. He pointed out that the marks were tampered with, and there was no signature of a valuator.

“How can he (Jamal) sign on the OMR sheet? Is this the examination reforms that we are talking about? Jamal has changed 15 marks to 45 marks. This has to be explained,” Krishna said, before demanding an inquiry, by an independent agency like the CID or Lokayukta.

Another member, C K Jagadish Prasad, alleged that the original OMR sheets were with the university.

“We have filed an application under RTI seeking originals. A full-month has passed and we have not received any reply. We know the originals are lying in the chambers of the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar (Evaluation),” he alleged.

While the house was shocked by the revelation, Registrar (Evaluation) R K Somashekhar assured the members that he would collect prima facie evidence about this in a week.

“I am trying to verify the serial number of this OMR sheet. It is taking time. I will present full facts in a week’s time,” he said.

 When the discussion of approval of the Central Purchase Committee was placed, Registrar (Administration) B C Mylarappa lamented that the varsity was not receiving full sports fee from affiliated colleges.

“BU should get Rs 2.50 crore as sports fee from colleges. For the last 3 years, however, we are receiving only Rs 48 lakh. Even the reimbursement from Social Welfare Department for our hostels has not been done,” he said.

In-charge Finance Officer N Rangaswamy said an internal audit would be done. Several local inquiry committee (LIC) reports were on the agenda for approval of the Syndicate.