Exam reforms committee of the GTU will inquire into the involvement of the students and spell out any further punishment.
Three member committee of Gujarat Technological University
(GTU) appointed to investigate the SMS copying scandal gave its report on Wednesday
14th Dec. The committee recommended that the two lecturers involved in
leaking questions through SMS be suspended while it has cancelled the examination
papers written by six students who received the questions via messages from lecturer
Ankit Mehta.
Committee members who took statements of nine students, three principals and one
lecturer (prime accused lecturer Ankit Mehta failed to appear before the committee)
noted that the statements of all those found involved in the SMS copy case seemed
fabricated so as to escape strict action. Their statements appeared pre-decided
and aimed at protecting each other, the committee noted. A case in point is the
fact that the principals said that students who had received the questions on mobile
phone 40 minutes before the exam could not have benefited from the questions as
they were already in the centre with their phones deposited outside the exam centre.
It is common knowledge that no student is allowed inside the exam centre with a
phone and their mobile phones are taken from them 40 minutes before the exams. These
statements aim to protect the students. The students too said that they had not
seen the questions as they were inside the exam centre. They also said that the
teacher had sent them questions in good faith, a GTU official said. It needs mention
that Mehta, an exam observer, was caught sending a question and its answer to three
students and another teacher Nirav Gadhiya by SMS right before the fifth semester
exam was to begin. The exams were held early this month. Mehta services as lecturer
with Alpha Engineering College of Ahmedabad were terminated. Gadhiya too was terminated.
The committee recommending suspension of two lecturers and barring them from any
exam duty means little as Mehta and Gadhiya have been terminated and GTU has barred
any college from employing them as teachers. With regard to the students, the committee
has said that exam reforms committee of the GTU should inquire into the involvement
of the students and spell out any further punishment.
Courtesy: Times of India
