4 PJTAU staff suspended for question paper leakage

Prof. Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University (PJTAU) has suspended four officials of the institution following the incident of B.Sc. (Agri) semester exam question paper leakage coming to light. The authorities have also dismissed 35 in-service students of the course for their alleged involvement in the leakage.

During a recent visit to the College of Agriculture at Jagitial by Vice-Chancellor of the university Prof. Aldas Janaiah and others examined the records of the semester exams and closed-circuit camera footage. With doubts of question paper leakage after watching the camera footage, the Vice-Chancellor appointed a three-member committee for an in-depth inquiry into the issue.

The committee has found that 35 third-year students, all working as Agriculture Extension Officers (AEOs) in the Agriculture Department, pursuing the course as in-service candidates, were found to be responsible for the question paper leakage with the help of the university staff. The inquiry also found that they had collected money from the students for sharing the leaked question papers on WhatsApp for the last few years.

Taking the incident seriously, the university authorities have suspended the 35 in-service students and surrendered them back to their parent department. The Vice-Chancellor stated that vacancies of several administrative posts at the university level had led to many irregularities during the 2014-24 period and the question paper leakage was one among them.

If required, the matter would be referred to the cyber crimes wing of the police department for a comprehensive probe, the V-C said and assured that such incidents would not be allowed to recur in future. The administration would work on improving the standards with the help of technology.