UP govt recommends sacking of CPMT chairman after he resigns

Lucknow, June 21 (UNI) In a face saving action, the Uttar Pradesh government has recommended the sacking of Veer Bahadur Singh Poorvanchal University Vice-Chancellor K P Singh, who resigned from his post today after owning moral responsibility following the controversy over the Uttar Pradesh Combined Pre Medical Test (CPMT) 2007.

State cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh informed that Governor T V Rajeswar has been recommended by Chief Minister Mayawati to sack the VC, who was also the chairman of the CPMT committee and take strict action against him.

Mr Singh said the recommendation was sent this morning to the Raj Bhawan after the nine-member probe committee found that the keys (answersheets) of all sets had only the signature of the chairman and the four other members of the committee did not check the keys.

''As the chairman has accepted lapses and on the version of other four members, he was found to be solely responsible for irregularity in the CPMT results,'' the official claimed.

When asked what action would be taken against the VC who had resigned before governmental action, Mr Singh said it was up to the governor to take action.

Earlier in the day, Professor Singh submitted his resignation letter to the Governor Rajeswar here after announcing fresh CPMT results.

The VC said his decision to resign was taken without pressure from any quarters.

'' I will be meeting the governor and will hand over my resignation letter'', he said adding that, ''I take moral responsibility for the controversy but I can assure that it was not intentional''.

Professor Singh, who joined as the VC of the University on November 30, 2005 for three years, said, '' I am peeved by the controversy and do not wish to continue the post''.

He maintained that result controversies were not new in the state or the country as similar lapses were witnessed during several other examinations in the past.

Yesterday, the Uttar Pradesh government maintained there was no scam and only a technical flaw in the declaration of the CPMT 2007 results, according to a nine-member probe team constituted to detect any irregularities.

During prima facie investigation, it was found that the programming was faulty and it was not cross-checked manually. As per irregularities, it was found that the key (answersheet) of set-1 was wrongly repeated for set-2, set-3 and set-4 also.

The Mayawati government had withheld the earlier results after irregularities were reflected in it, which caused panic among students. Furious mobs of students took to the streets at several places, while one student committed suicide.

UNI