The Anna University in Chennai is the centre of a corruption investigation by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC). A major scam has been exposed where teachers took bribes to boost the scores of students during the revaluation.
The scam came to light on Wednesday, Aug 1, when the DVAC conducted a surprise check at the premises of ten academicians including the former Controller of Examinations Prof. GV Uma. Authorities found copies of answer scripts, property documents and other pieces of evidence leading them to press charge against them.
This is the second such scam at Anna University after two faculty members were found to have changed marks in June 2012. In that case, the two members were pressurised by top officials to improve the scores of certain students. They were initially suspended, but later all charges against them were dropped for lack of evidence.
As for the latest case, Dr. Uma along with Dr. P. Vijaykumar Assistant Professor/Dean (in-charge), University College of Engineering, Tindivanam, and Dr. R. Sivakumar, Assistant Professor, University College of Engineering, Tindivanam along with professors R. Sundarajan, M. Mahesh Babu, N. Anbuselvan, C.N. Pratheeba, I. Pragadheeswarar, M. Rameshkannan and S. Ramesh were all accused.
As per the First Information Report (FIR), they demanded Rs 10,000 from each student to boost their marks during the revaluation process.
Once the money was received, they allegedly forged the answer scripts to alter the marks, while destroying the original answer scripts of those who paid the bribe. The initial investigation has revealed that 16,636 students have enhanced marks out of the 3,02,380 that applied for revaluation.
The DVAC has noted that a large number of answer scripts have been destroyed without following the due process, which will make it hard for investigators to point out all the students. They have, however, recovered enough answer scripts to charge the accused of fraud. Using her position, Dr Uma debarred teachers from the evaluation process if they refused to cooperate.
