Marks-for-money scam in affiliated colleges only: Anna varsity V-C

Chennai : Anna University Vice Chancellor M.K. Surappa on Friday said that the marks-for-money scam had been reported only from affiliated colleges, not from the varsity campuses.

Surappa told reporters here that none of the varsity campuses was involved.

The varsity has suspended its former Controller of Examination G.V. Uma, a Professor in the Department of Information Science and Technology, for the irregularities reported in the re-evaluation of engineering examination answersheets, officials said.

Tamil Nadu Minister for Higher Eduction K.P. Anbalagan told reporters that evidence was being collected against the suspects.

PMK founder S. Ramadoss has demanded a probe into the role of private engineering colleges as well as former Vice Chancellors and Education Department officials in the scam.

Investigating a complaint regarding irregularities in the re-evaluation of answersheets, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had registered a case against seven varsity officials, including Uma.

Uma was Controller of Examinations between 2015 and 2018.

DVAC teams had also searched Uma's house here, apart from those of P. Vijayakumar and R. Shivakumar in Dindivanam and the office of Controller of Examinations on August 1.

According to DVAC, students who had applied for re-evalution of answersheets paid Rs 10,000 per subject to get higher marks.

In 2017, 302,380 students had applied for re-evaluation, of which 73,733 passed exams and 16,636 others improved their scores.

Officials were accused of destroying original answersheets of students who had paid bribes.