Thiruvananthapuram: Governor P. Sathasivam on Tuesday ordered a probe by the Kerala University into the confiscation of answer scripts from SFI activist Sivarenjith arrested in connection with the murder attempt on Akhil Chandran, a student of the University College.
The governor has sought an urgent reply from Vice-Chancellor V.P. Mahadevan Pillai on the issue.
He asked the university to keep proper records of the answer sheets in its possession and sought an explanation how a fake seal of the physical education director of the university was seized from Sivarenjith’s house.
The Cantonment police had seized 83 answer book bundles from his home at Attukal. Ther-eafter, answer sheets we-re seized from the Univ-ersity College union room controlled by the SFI campus unit. This raised serious questions about the credibility of examinations.
The vice-chancellor should also explain if irregularities have taken place using the fake seal. The governor, who is also the chancellor of the university, said that teachers are responsible for keeping the records of answer sheets. Some answer sheets were also found from the union room of the university college while cleaning it. The seizure of a fake seal of a teacher from the union office has been taken seriously by the governor.
However, Additional Director of Collegiate Education K.K. Suma said that the recovery of answer scripts from the union room was dubious. The answer scripts were not found in the first inspection conducted by the collegiate education office. She also said that three non-teaching staff who were given custody of safeguarding the answer scripts were transferred following the allegations.
The university has began verifying the stock of answer books in all examination centres under it. The centres were strictly instructed to keep unused answer books under safe custody and report the present status to the university.
Meanwhile, Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel called on the governor and briefed him about the steps being taken by the state government in connection with the recent developments. He assured that strict action was being taken to ensure the smooth functioning of the college and the safety of students. Director, Collegiate Education, has been entrusted with this responsibility.
Mr . Jaleel said that the government will ensure punishment to the culprits no matter who they are.
He said he met the governor regarding another matter but the university violence issue was also discussed.
“The governor has sought a report from the vice-chancellor and not me. There will not be any lapse from the government,” he said. Several teachers will also be transferred.
An eight-member National Democratic Alliance delegation led by Mr O. Rajagopal MLA met the governor seeking intervention in the matter. Later, Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala also called on him and submitted a plea seeking restoration of normalcy in the University College, expediting the police inquiry and initiating a detailed probe into the allegations levelled against the Kerala University and the Kerala Public Service Commission.
The petitions received from the Opposition Leader and the NDA delegation will be forwarded to the chief minister for appropriate action.
