The higher education department has decided to seek a report from Calcutta University about the loss of some of the answer sheets of the Bengali MA first-semester exam from three affiliated colleges, education minister Bratya Basu said on Monday.

The results of the subject have not been published because of the lapse.

A senior official of the department said a communication would be sent to the university very soon.

The examiners of three colleges — two in Calcutta and one in South 24-Parganas — that offer postgraduate courses allegedly lost the answer sheets of 120 students.

The results of 1,000 students are now held up following the botch-up.

An official of the department said: “We will ask the university to explain how it all happened. What steps has the university taken to protect the students’ interests? Strangely, the students took the exam in April; the results have not been published yet. What was the university doing all these days?”

A CU official said they will ask the principals of the respective colleges to find out from the 120 affected students whether they want retests or would like to accept the highest score obtained in the remaining papers as the marks for the lost paper.

The official said students whose scripts were misplaced after the marks had been uploaded on the portal of the university’s controller of examination could be told to accept what has been uploaded.

“However, this option has a rider. The students will not be able to seek a review as the scripts have been misplaced,” the official said.

The news about the loss of answer scripts emerged last week when the university in its syndicate meeting decided to ask the principals of the three colleges to initiate a probe against the errant examiners.

“We will seek a report from the university about the loss of answer scripts,” minister Basu told Metro in a text message.

An official of the department said it was a matter of embarrassment that although the students will take the second-semester exam next month, the results of the
first semester could not be published.

CU officiating vice-chancellor Santa Datta said last Friday they had come to know that some of the scripts were assessed and the marks had been uploaded on the portal of the examination controller, then the scripts got misplaced.

The remaining scripts could not be assessed at all as they were lost.

The examiner of the college in South 24-Parganas said that the 54 scripts got burnt, the principal of the college told this newspaper last week.

The college has instituted a probe against the examiner.

An official of the department said they had come to know that the university knew about the loss since August, but could not understand why it took time to act.

“Had they intervened earlier, the problem would not have lingered. We will seek to know about the delay from the university”, the official said.

On Monday, VC Santa Datta said: “I have not received any communication from the department. Once the campus opens on Tuesday, we will finalise the resolution that was adopted at the syndicate meeting held on October 29. Then copies of the resolution would be circulated to the colleges.”