‘Rescheduling exams is a sensitive issue’

Although the University of Mumbai had made complaints to the cyber police for two paper leaks — Applied Physics and Basic Electrical and Electronics Engineering (BEEE) — it confirmed on Tuesday that a third paper, Applied Mathematics, had also leaked.

Although the University of Mumbai had made complaints to the cyber police for two paper leaks — Applied Physics and Basic Electrical and Electronics Engineering (BEEE) — it confirmed on Tuesday that a third paper, Applied Mathematics, had also leaked.

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The university has not yet announced any re-examinations, and will deliberate on this at a board of examinations meeting scheduled for June 8.

“We sincerely apologise to all the students (for the paper leak) and assure we will take care in the future,” said vice chancellor Rajan Welukar, addressing a press conference on Tuesday.

Defending the university’s decision to deny the paper leaks until now, Welukar said, “No public body can come to a conclusion unless it was analytically proven that the paper leaked.”

Admitting to possibility of leaks in the past, Welukar said, “Either we were lucky or things happened and were not exposed.”

Though no complaint was lodged at the time, students had claimed that the Applied Mathematics paper for first year engineering students was circulated through SMSes and emails before the paper was conducted on May 18. The Applied Physics paper held on May 23 was also posted on a Facebook group for students the night before, while the BEEE paper was circulated through email and SMS.

“Rescheduling exams is a sensitive issue and the decision to reschedule will be taken by the board of examinations as per provisions in the Maharashtra Universities’ Act,” said Welukar. The last exam is on June 11. Any rescheduled exams will be after this date.