LLB scam: Govt orders suspension of lecturer pending enquiry

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Mangalore University Vice-Chancellor Prof T C Shivashankara Murthy said that the department of Collegiate Education undersecretary S M Nandakumar has sent an order on suspension of Stephen Quadros on Friday. The order says that Stephen Quadros can not go out of town without taking permission from the higher authorities. In fact, the Mangalore University had conducted an detailed enquiry into the manipulation and had written a letter to the government to initiate action against the said lecturer on May 5, 2010 and June 3, 2010.

The Mangalore University had even filed a complaint with the police on the manipulations held during the tabulation process.

It may be recalled that the manipulation came to light during April 2009. After the enquiry, the preliminary report showed a large scale manipulations. Accordingly, the Mangalore University Syndicate had decided to conduct a detailed enquiry on the same.
It has been found that the students who actually failed in the LLB examination held in October 2008 had been promoted, marks of students (who scored high marks) were found tampered with, while some students who did not appear for the examination, were allotted marks and were promoted.

The marks mentioned in the ledgers were higher than actually scored by them in some cases. In the case of some students, the marks noted against their names were less than what they had actually scored.

It was said that the university had appointed Advocate Gopalakrishna Bhat as an investigator to look into the malpractice in the tabulation. The report had said that Stephen Quadros had not done his examination duty properly and had violated the examination rules.

According to the report, Stephen Quadros had failed to inform the absence of St Aloysius College Lecturer Ashok Prasad for the tabulation work, to the University. Instead, he had deputed Chethana Sundar and Ajith D’Souza of Alva’s BEd College for the tabulation work. During the investigation, it was found that Stephen Quadros had forged the signature of Ajith D’Souza by showing in the register that he had attended the tabulation work. Without the permission of the Mangalore University, Chethana Sundar had been asked to do the tabulation work, said enquiry report.  Stephen Quadros has been suspended as per Karnataka Public Service (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rule 1957 10(1) (D).