Thiruvananthapuram: The University of Calicut has decided to pass BTech students who couldn’t get their degrees, by awarding up to 20 marks as special moderation. These are for candidates who had sought BTech admission at the University of Calicut before APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University was instituted. About 200 candidates, who had failed the BTech exams, years ago, would now get their degrees.
The controversial order passed by the Vice Chancellor would be ratified by the academic council that would meet on 24 September. As per the rules of the university, neither the VC nor the academic council or the syndicate has the right to award moderation marks. The Vice Chancellor has allegedly used his special right to issue this order due to pressure from the syndicate members. Meanwhile, the Save University Campaign Committee has appealed to the Governor, who is also the Chancellor, to cancel the decision to award the marks and also to take action against the Vice Chancellor.
University of Calicut passes the failed BTech candidates by awarding marks while other universities hold special supplementary exams for those have failed even for one paper. Only the exam board that is appointed as per the regulations of the university can stipulate the moderation marks. Moreover, no one can alter or change the moderation marks or the results after the exam results have been published. The responsibilities of the exam board would cease immediately after the publication of the results, the Committee stated.
Earlier, Mahatma Gandhi University’s decision to pass BTech candidates by awarding 5 marks at an adalat that was conducted by the higher education minister had become controversial. As a result, the additional marks were scrapped following instructions from the Governor.
The University of Calicut’s earlier decision to pass those who had written BTech exams in the 2004 and 2009 schemes by awarding moderation too had become controversial.