Leaked BMS paper printed thrice

The final year Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) exam paper, which was leaked in April, was sent for printing three times before the exam, thus exposing it to the possibility of leakage, a report submitted to the Mumbai University has said. Bhavya Dore reports.

The final year Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) exam paper, which was leaked in April, was sent for printing three times before the exam, thus exposing it to the possibility of leakage, a report submitted to the Mumbai University has said.

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A three-member committee, which was appointed to probe the leak, submitted the report on Thursday. The committee, headed by ST Gadade, former dean of commerce, has made several observations, pointing out that the paper should have ideally been printed only once.

Paper setters had submitted three different question paper sets for the International Finance exam to the university on February 9 and these were sent for proof-checking on February 10. One set was selected as the final question paper on March 16.

However, the paper was sent for printing again on April 16 (nine days before the exam) and then on April 23 (two days before the exam). This is possibly because enough bundles were not printed at first.

"Taking the paper out and sending it for reprinting twice makes it accessible to different staff each time," said a source familiar with the matter. "There needs to be better coordination between the different departments."

The paper was leaked on April 25 hours before the exam was to begin. But the university had swapped the leaked question paper bundles at 58 colleges with fresh sets. Colleges were also asked to return the old bundles without opening them.

Seven colleges were found to have returned opened bundles of the old question paper. The committee, however, has been unable to establish that the paper had leaked from the colleges as they have documents to show that they had not received the university's message on time.

College officials, students and university staff have been extensively probed, but the paper setters did not report for questioning even though they were called twice.