Punjabi university’s examination branch under scanner

The department of higher education recently ordered a probe into alleged anomalies in the working of Punjabi University’s examination branch. The department of higher education, on January 30, sought an inquiry report from the university within 10 days.

The department of higher education recently ordered a probe into alleged anomalies in the working of Punjabi University’s examination branch.

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The department of higher education, on January 30, sought an inquiry report from the university within 10 days. The inquiry was ordered in response to a complaint filed against the department and examination controller professor Balwinder Singh Tiwana.

Examination branch is unorganised, says complainant

The complainant alleged that the unorganised state of the examination branch was inconveniencing affiliated colleges and departments.

“The examination branch has failed to prepare a schedule for semester examinations as per the university calendar. This will further delay the start of the next academic session. Colleges have not been provided examination forms though they submitted ₹120 for each student’s form to the university,” the complaint read.

The complainant said that the university had failed to declare the results of undergraduate and postgraduate courses on time: “Most of the times, the results are delayed to extent that the examination of next semester gets over but students keep waiting for the results of the previous semester. In case of revaluation, the students have to wait much longer. As per UGC norms, the university is required to declare results within 40 days.”

The complainant said the examination branch had failed to compile the manual result gazette or e-gazette for convenience of the colleges.

“Colleges are only handed over a list of passing students. They have to ask for the results separately in case of a ‘re-appear’ or ‘fail’. The students have to bear the brunt of the mistakes made by the university’s examination branch’s while compiling results and printing detailed mark sheets,” the complaint said.

‘Question papers, answer sheets printed without issuing tenders’

The complainant added that due to ‘connivance’ of senior officials of the examination branch, orders for printing of question papers and answer sheets were given without issuing tenders and demanded a high-level inquiry to fix responsibility for such serious anomalies.

PU registrar professor Manjit Singh Nijjar said the university was yet to look into the complaint in detail: “We will act on the orders given by the department of higher education, accordingly,” he said.

Meanwhile, professor Tiwana said, “The complaint is baseless. Its content suggests that it has been filed by someone with vested interests.”

“I am open to any inquiry. Moreover, the complainant has neglected to mention his address and designation in the complaint. The allegations levelled against me are bogus,” professor Tiwana said adding that the ₹120 examination fee mentioned in the complaint was processing fee for the online system, which every college was required to pay.