Mumbai University deliberately negligent: Union

The teachers union of Mumbai University has severely criticised the authorities for their “deliberate negligence” and “callousness,” saying it had led to the engineering paper scam that took place last week. The teachers urged the university to involve them in curbing the problem rather than alienating them. Meanwhile, the vice-chancellor Dr Sanjay Deshmukh has said the university was scaling up the security in the examination section and would constitute a committee headed by a retired judge to recommend measures to beef up the security.

The police recently arrested a group of eight people that included permanent and temporary staff of the University, who were allegedly involved in arranging for students rewrite their exam answer sheets for a price.

In a strongly worded letter to the VC, the Bombay University and College Teachers Union exhorted the VC to take prompt action to arrest the “rot” by involving all stakeholders who had pointed out the lacunae and possible avenues of malpractices in the examination system rather than alienating them. The letter also alleged deliberate negligence on the part of the administration in curbing malpractices.

“It is a matter of shame that in a democratic system, the views of teachers have been completely sidelined. Examination issues were several times discussed on the floor of Senate by representatives of teachers and graduates. Committees were appointed and their reports discussed in Management Council as well as Board of Examinations. It is a matter of deep concern that effective measures recommended by these committees have not being incorporated. No security camera in Examination house suggests deliberate negligence,” said Dr Madhu Paranjpe, general secretary, BUCTU.

Dr Deshmukh said the university was intent on arresting the problem on a war-footing and awaiting the police to complete its investigation before rolling out the security measures.

“We will be setting up a judicial inquiry after the police investigation and will try to get to the bottom of the problem and weed it out from its root. While action will be initiated against guilty officials, students involved in the scam will also not be spared,” said Dr Deshmukh. He also enumerated various security measures like increased CCTV surveillance and screening of people visiting the examination section that were being put into place.