Opposition stages walkout over q. paper leakage

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 12: The Congress-led Opposition staged a walkout in the Kerala Assembly today alleging that the government had not taken action against officials responsible for the leakage of the SSLC model question papers and the standard III and VII of the Sarva Shikha Abhiyan (SSA) question papers.

Seeking leave for an adjournment motion in this regard, Mr K C Venugopal (Cong) alleged that the government had not taken seriously the leakage of the question papers and it was protecting the officials concerned as they belonged to an organisation owing allegiance to the ruling front.

Leading the walkout, Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy said this was for the third time that leakage of question papers were reported since the Left Democratic Front (LDF) came to power.

No action had been taken against the officials responsible for the leakage of the SSLC model question papers on the basis of the report submitted by the Crime Branch Police which inquired into the issue, he said and alleged that the government was protecting the officials as they belonged to pro-LDF organisations.

Replying to notice for the motion, Education Minister M A Baby said five employees of the Reprographic Centre had been suspended in connection with the recovery of SSA question papers from two places.

He said the leaked question papers had been cancelled and orders were issued for compilation of new question papers.

Mr Baby also informed the House that all measures had been taken to protect the secrecy of the question papers for the SSLC examination, beginning on March 14 with the cooperation of the Home Department.

Speaker K Radhakrishnan refused leave for the motion in the light of the Minister's reply.

UNI