Goregaon college appoints panel to probe corruption charge against professor

A college in Goregaon has appointed a committee to investigate if one of their professors has demanded bribe from students to award them passing marks in exams, as alleged by a student.

A college in Goregaon has appointed a committee to investigate if one of their professors had demanded bribe from students to give them pass marks in exams.

The college finally decided to look into the matter after some activists approached the college on September 27. (HT Photo for Representation)

A BA student of Patkar-Varade College in Goregaon had complained that an English professor had demanded money to clear his papers. The student also claimed that the professor, for the past several years, has been deliberately failing students and demanding money to give them pass marks.

The student said he failed in his first and second semester English exams. “After the third attempt, I applied to get a photocopy of my answer sheets. I found that the supplements attached to the main answer sheets were missing,” he said. He first appeared in the examination in 2013.

The student said that when he asked the professor about it, he asked him to pay Rs30,000 to get pass marks in the exam. When the student said he could not pay the amount, the professor allegedly demanded a mobile phone. “He has been doing it for many years with many students. A girl had to mortgage her necklace to pay him,” he said.

The student said that he had submitted several “proofs” of bribery, including bank receipts of the payments. He had earlier alleged that instead of looking into his complaint, the college refused to accept his fourth semester assignment project.

The college took up the matter after some activists approached the college on September 27. “We have appointed an internal committee to investigate the allegations,” said Sharmistha Matkar, principal of the college.

“Demanding bribe to pass students is part of commercialisation of education. And it must stop. Unless the college suspends the professor and the exam controller, we will continue to protest,” said Santosh Dhotre, vice-president of Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena.