Thiruvananthapuram: The University of Kerala will cancel the degree certificates awarded to 37 students who had failed in the BSc Computer Science examination but later made the cut by illegally availing moderation marks.

The decision was taken in a syndicate meeting which also instructed to cancel the extra marks awarded then by making changes in tabulation software using a fake password.

The incident happened three years ago when extra marks, including grace marks, were awarded to nearly 600 students in the examination. Now the marks will be removed from the profiles of all these students.

Though a Section Officer was dismissed from the service following the scam, the authorities didn’t report the incident to the police or instruct the Examination wing to cancel the results. The Section Officer, who lost the job, had then committed suicide.

Dr Mohanan Kunnummal, after taking over the charge of the University Vice Chancellor, examined the episode in detail and cancelled the degree certificates and extra marks of the students involved.

The Examination Wing earlier informed the VC that the delay in cancelling the marks was owing to the non-completion of an internal probe being conducted by a committee headed by former Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr P P Ajayakumar. Also, the concerned officials wrongly told the VC that none of the students who got the extra marks illegally were awarded the certificates.

The Save University Campaign Committee then brought the matter to the notice of the Governor, and the VC asked the syndicate to consider it based on Governor’s direction.

Many got overseas jobs with fake certificate

Many who received the certificate during this period managed to get jobs abroad. The VC had directed the lawyer representing the University to file a review petition against the High Court order directing the varsity officials to issue the degree certificate to a student who had received the grace marks. However, in this case, the court was not informed that the student had received the extra marks illegally. In this scenario, the syndicate meeting also decided to file an appeal against the court order.

39 student councillors barred from contesting union elections

The University of Kerala has disqualified 39 student councillors from contesting university union elections in the wake of a major impersonation scandal at the Christian College, Kattakada.

A syndicate meeting held the other day has decided to exclude their names from the voters' list of the university union poll. This followed a scrutiny of the candidates' list from the affiliated colleges after the impersonation row blamed on the Students Federation of India (SFI).

As per the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations, the upper-age limit for becoming a councillor is 22 years. However, most of those who were disqualified are aged 28-30 years. Those who completed the course and discontinued the studies too were disqualified. In the previous years, those who failed in examinations too were expelled from the councillor post in line with the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations.

The scandal

As reported earlier in place of A S Anakha, who had won the election of the University Union Councillor (UUC) from the college, the principal included the name of A Visakh, SFI’s area secretary, in the list sent to the University.

Two SFI members — Aromal and Anakha — had emerged victorious for the two UUC posts after the college union election held on December 12.

Following the 'Manorama' exposé on the impersonation attempt the elections to the University Union Council was postponed by the Kerala University. (Student representatives elected to the University Union attend the Council.)

30 colleges yet to respond

Meanwhile, nearly 30 colleges are yet to hand over the election details despite the University’s directive in this regard. Vice-Chancellor Dr Mohanan Kunnummal has warned that the colleges will be given a few more days’ time. If they provide the details even then, all the councilors from these colleges will be disqualified. There are 178 colleges under the University.

Other varsity decisions

It’s estimated that the University suffered a loss of Rs 1,55,938 due to the impersonation scandal at the Kattakada college. The syndicate meeting decided to recover this amount from the college itself.

Though a suggestion came up for including a varsity representative in the Search committee entrusted with the appointment of a permanent VC, the meeting rejected the same. The Syndicate’s decision is that the same should be considered only in the event of the Governor demanding the same as per a court decision. Currently, the State Government has barred the varsity, nominating its representative to the Search committee.