Inquiry committee to look into Mumbai University result fiasco

Mumbai: The state government is planning to set up inquiry committee once all the results are declared to investigate the reasons behind the failure of the online assessment system for the final year students of University of Mumbai (MU).  The committee will look into the technical aspect of the On Screen Marking (OSM) system and accordingly probe the matter. The MU has managed to declare 472 of the 477 results of the examinations conducted in the month of April and May for the final year students.

“Once we get a report from the MU that all results have been declared, we will start our formalities for setting up this inquiry committee. Currently, our aim is to clear the results and the related mess. Our priority is to discharge the students as they have already suffered a lot because of this new OSM system,” said Sitaram Kunte, the additional chief secretary of the higher and technical education department.

On being asked whether any action will be taken against MU’s Vice Chancellor Dr. Sanjay Deshmukh, who introduced the online assessment system, Mr Kunte said, “We are not in a position to give any details. Like I said, the aim is to let the students slide away from this mess. And once that is done, we will take action against those who are related to this mess.” 

Mr Deshmukh had announced the ‘digital’ assessment of the 17 lakh answer papers, allegedly without consulting any higher officials in the government or the university. The project backfired when the OSM failed to cooperate with the assessors, causing an inordinate delay in declaring the results. However, the results mess is expected to resolve by Saturday. 

Only five more results that are pending, including that of M.Com (Accountancy). 

The acting Controller of Examinations Dr. Arjun Ghatule assured that all results, including major and odds would be declared by next week.