Probe ordered into errors in Calicut University degree certificates

KOZHIKODE: Calicut University has instituted an internal enquiry into the embarrassing incident of the varsity issuing erroneous degree certificates to students. Vice-chancellor (VC) M Abdul Salam on Monday appointed a two-member enquiry commission, headed by syndicate examination standing committee convener K M Nazeer, to probe the incident. The committee will submit its report within seven days.
The fiasco in issuance of degree certificates was exposed last week after it was found that a BSc nursing student was issued a degree certificate mentioning her degree as MBBS and a BBA student was given a BCom certificate.
Meanwhile the preliminary report, submitted by controller of examinations (CoE) V V Georgekutty to the VC on Monday, said that there were five instances of BSc nursing students receiving certificates that mentioned their degrees as MBBS and in one case a BBA student was provided a BCom certificate. The report said that glitches in the software provided by C-DIT was the reason.
Meanwhile, Abdul Salam said that the leakage of the cancelled degree certificates, which were to be kept in the confidential custody of two section officers, was a deliberate attempt to sabotage the recent reforms introduced in the certificate issuance process and to show the varsity in a bad light. "The enquiry would look into the reason of how errors crept into the degree certificates and it would also find out who all are responsible for leaking the confidential documents," he said.
Meanwhile, four major employee unions in the varsity, in a statement, have demanded a crime branch enquiry into the incident saying that they suspect that an organized mafia was behind the incident. "The enquiry should probe whether such certificates have been issued for financial gains," the release said. They also said that the stand that the errors were caused due to software issues was incorrect as the certificates issued over a period of more than six months had errors in it.