West Bengal: Merit list topper ‘never applied for admission’

Kolkata: Jadavpur University landed in controversy as a student’s name topped the merit lists of four subjects in which he had not applied for admission. Archisman Panigrahi, who secured the first position in the higher secondary examination this year, was the one to lodge the complaint. 

Archisman’s name appeared at the top of the merit list in four subjects — physics, chemistry, mathematics and geology. A student of Hooghly Collegiate School, Archisman had topped the higher secondary examination conducted by the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education with 99.2 per cent and an aggregate of 496. 

State education minister Partha Chatterjee said he was completely in the dark about the episode. 

“I will speak to the vice-chancellor of the university,” he said. Vice-chancellor Suranjan Das claimed that it may have be an attempt to embarrass the university. 

“We will lodge a compliant with the cyber crime cell and ascertain the real cause,” Prof. Das said. 

When contacted, Archisman said that he was informed by one of his friends about this and he immediately sent an e-mail to the dean of the university. 

“I pointed out that I had not applied for admission there. My name figured on the top of the lists but my aggregate and date of birth in them was not correct,” he said. 

Archisman is all set to leave for Bengaluru in the next few days to pursue his next course of studies at the Indian Institute of Science.