An error committed by the agency that has been entrusted with the task of scanning pre-university answer scripts left hundreds of parents anxious on Tuesday.
While students who had applied on May 29 were able to download the scanned copies of their answer scripts on Tuesday, those who had done the payment on May 26 still awaited the copies to be uploaded. This prompted them to visit the department. Some parents barged into the department office and created a chaotic atmosphere. Nagaraj, one more parent, sought that the CET counselling be postponed. “What if there is a difference in the scores.
Will my son not miss a chance to get an admission in a better college?” he said. The issue was particular to students whose papers were in the series starting with number eight or nine. Those who had applied for a scanned copy on May 25 and 26 did not get the copies as the operators chose to upload papers for which they received a good number of applications.
“They began scanning mathematics papers first as they were too many in number. In the process, a few bundles were put aside and not uploaded. They were of the eight or nine series,” an official in the department of PU education said.
The parent of Mahesh G, a student who had applied for a scanned copy of the maths paper, had a concern of a different kind. The student claimed that the copy that the department had uploaded on the website did not belong to him.
“There is an additional sheet attached to it, even as there are blank sheets in the main booklet,” said his uncle. Another parent said that half the Kannada answer script that had been uploaded did not belong to the candidate. Addressing parents, Director of PU Education Ramegowda assured them that the scanned copies would be made available within 24 hours.
Noor Jahan (name changed), a parent, said, “We applied for the copy on May 26. We can only hope that they upload the paper in a day’s time.”
Students also began to panic as Tuesday was the last date to apply for scanned copies.
“Are we supposed to re-apply? It is safer to do so, as it is the last date to apply,” said Poornima, who had come from Shivamogga. The department has three high-speed scanners, besides the medium-speed ones. It has ordered for more to accelerate the process.
KAT reinstates suspended PU staff
The Karnataka Administrative Tribunal has ordered that 40 employees of PU department who were suspended following question paper leaks, be reinstated. Stating that none of the employees has been arrested by the CID, the Tribunal said that the employees be paid salaries that are due since the day of suspension. These employees were suspended on March 31.
