Mumbai university results delay: Maharashtra government warned, V-C ignored, students hit

Amid the chaos surrounding the exam results delay at the University of Mumbai (MU), it has come to light that the state government had opposed the idea of adopting the online assessment of answer papers at “one go”

Amid the chaos surrounding the exam results delay at the University of Mumbai (MU), it has come to light that the state government had opposed the idea of adopting the online assessment of answer papers at “one go”. The university vice-chancellor (V-C) was advised to introduce the On-Screen Marking System (OMS) gradually, in phases.

Sanjay Deshmukh (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

Deshmukh, however, went ahead and rolled out the system for the entire university and that led to chaos, with students being the biggest losers. Students from several faculties are still awaiting their results. Two deadlines set by the state government to declare all results have not been met, putting the future of many students at risk. Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, who is the chancellor of all universities of the state, has also issued a show-cause notice to Deshmukh for the entire mess and has sent him on compulsory leave.

Hindustan Times is in possession of a copy of the minutes of the MU’s management council meeting held on April 28. The meeting was called to select the service provider for implementation of OMS for evaluation of answer papers from the first half of 2017.

The documents reveal that three senior officers from the state higher and technical department — Rohidas Kale, joint director; Siddharth Kharat, deputy secretary; and Subhash Mahajan, director, higher and technical directorate – were present at the meeting along with Deshmukh and other senior officials.

READ: Meet the vice-chancellor who might resolve Mumbai University’s exam results mess

During the discussions, Kale objected to the proposal of implementing OMS in one go. He said it would be better if the university adopted the system in stages. Kharat and Mahajan, too, pointed out that the university was left with “less time” and suggested that it adopts the system gradually, the documents reveal.

Sources said the officials had even suggested that the university start with technical courses from this year, which had less number of students as compared to commerce and arts streams.

Deshmukh, however, insisted that the management council should allow him to adopt the system for all the courses. He argued that the system was not new to the university, as it was already in place for one course for the past four years. He also told the council members that the university had prepared all the infrastructure facilities necessary for implementing the system successfully.

He then asked the Dr Suresh Ukarande, technology faculty coordinator and a representative of Merit Trac agency, who got the tender for online evaluating answer papers, to explain to the council in detail about the system. After this the resolution for giving the OMS tender to Merit Trac was passed.

Sources said the resolution was cleared only after the V-C on his responsibility assured successful implementation of the system, which was later asked to be mentioned in the meeting minutes.

Currently, the Governor has sent Deshmukh on indefinite leave, after he missed the deadline of July 31 given by the former, to declare all results. Earlier, he was also sent a show-cause notice on August 1, to which he is yet to file a reply.

Of the total 17.50 lakh answer sheets, around 1.70 lakh are yet to be evaluated

.