Calcutta University has written to the higher education department about its recommendation to colleges for disciplinary action against three examiners who lost
the Bengali first-year postgraduate answer scripts of 120 students.

The university’s letter comes days after the department sought a report about the action taken against “erring officials” for the loss of answer scripts from three of its affiliated colleges.

CU registrar Debasish Das told Metro: “We have informed the department what steps have been taken against the errant officials. We have also informed the department that the affected students have been given the option either to accept the highest marks they got in one of the four papers as the marks for the lost paper or to sit for retests.”

If the students opt for the highest marks in a paper, then the university has to publish the results first.

Das said: “We will take a call on this soon.”

The department had asked CU to send an “action-taken report” within seven days detailing the steps taken to protect the students’ interests.

Teachers at the university said the authorities should take steps so the “sanctity” of the postgraduate courses in the colleges was protected. They said the allegations of the loss of the answer scripts or of mass copying by students while writing postgraduate exams in colleges in science subjects have hurt the sanctity of the evaluation process.

The examiners of the three colleges — two in Calcutta and one in South 24-Parganas that offer postgraduate courses — lost the answer sheets of a paper that the students wrote in April. The results of 1,000 students are held up because of the botch-up.

Santan Chattopadhyay, the secretary of the Calcutta University Teachers’ Association, said: “This latest incident, loss of scripts, and the allegations of mass copying during the postgraduate exams held in colleges has hurt the sanctity of our postgraduate courses. CU should take corrective measures to stop these.”