Mumbai university vice-chancellor must resign for assessment mess, says Ex-vice-chancellor

He demanded that there should be a judicial inquiry in the entire affair

Former vice-chancellor (V-C) of the University of Mumbai (MU) and Rajya Sabha member Bhalchandra Mungekar on Wednesday demanded the resignation of V-C Sanjay Deshmukh for botching up assessment of question papers.

Mumbai university officials are seeking help of other public varsities in the state. (HT FILE)

Speaking at a press conference, Mungekar, who once served in the Planning Commission of India, said the state government is equally responsible for MU's examination mess as it had put an embargo on holding elections for the university's governing bodies and other authorities for the past two years, allowing the V-C to run amok.

“Many unpleasant incidents have happened in the university in the last 13 years after I resigned. However, the present crisis is unprecedented. And it's the result of an irrational decision by Deshmukh. He should accept moral responsibility for this mess and resign even if the university meets the July 31 deadline,” he said.

Mungekar also demanded that governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, who also serves as the chancellor of the varsity, appoint an administrator to take over the assessment work. He said there should be a judicial inquiry of the entire affair. “All decisions made by the university need to be examined, he said.

Three universities may help MU with assessment

After Nagpur University agreed to help the MU in assessing papers, the varsity officials are seeking help of other public varsities in the state. According to an MU official, the university has contacted Savitribai Phule Pune University, Shivaji University, Kolhapur and Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad. It is also in the process of setting up its online assessment system at these varsities.

Meanwhile, the university has been assessing papers at a steady pace. On Wednesday, around 1.1 lakh papers were assessed, leaving around 4.4 lakh answer sheets unchecked. This year, the MU adopted an on-screen marking process for the assessment of answer sheets in place of traditional pen-and-paper evaluation.

The decision caused a huge delay in the results, as MU couldn’t appoint an agency for a long time and the technical glitches continue to plague the system. The delay has affected admissions to various post-graduation courses.

Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, who also serves as chancellor of the university, has asked the varsity administration to declare all the results by July 31.