Appoint exam controller in two months, Maharashtra govt tells Mumbai varsity
The work of the COE is being done another official as an additional charge since August 2015 after the then COE, Dinesh Bonde, resigned
University of Mumbai (MU) has been asked to appoint a full-time Controller of Examination (COE) in the next two months or accept an official appointed by the state government, warned the education department.
The university has not been able to fill the post for almost a year after it fell vacant. State minister of higher and technical education, Ravindra Waikar, on Tuesday met senior varsity officials and made it clear that the university has to find a suitable full-time COE. The COE, who heads the examination department, is a crucial post.
“The university has been trying to appoint a permanent COE, but due to the lack of a proper act we have been delaying this process. We are taking into consideration all the inputs given by the minister and will try to make appropriate changes at the earliest,” said M A Khan, registrar, MU.
The work of the COE is being done another official as an additional charge since August 2015 after the then COE, Dinesh Bonde, resigned. The university has since then, made three attempts to hire a new controller, but failed to do so after failing to find a suitable candidate.
Waikar’s visit was initiated after the department of higher and technical education received several complaints against the examination system in place at MU, by parents, students and the members students’ wings. “There have been several problems cropping in the examination department and time and again several complaints have been forwarded to the minister, so he wanted to personally visit the campus,” said Pradeep Sawant, a former senate member and a member of Yuva Sena. The meeting was held at the examination house of MU’s Kalina campus and was attended by vice chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh.
Loopholes in the examination system put into use by MU have been questioned repeatedly, and keeping in mind the growing complaints, Waikar insisted on personally checking the facilities available at the examination house, including the software used to announce results, staff, infrastructure, etc.
“The minister has asked us to upgrade the existing software and also sought a report on the staff in place at the examination house. We have also been asked to send a report on the existing staff crunch at the examination house. We will do as told,” said another senior officer from MU’s examination committee.
