Outsourcing jobs at examination branches in state universities is becoming a major problem with it coming to light that outsourced employees have been instrumental in leaking question papers and tampering answer sheets for money. In Osmania University itself, out of 1,100 sanctioned posts, only 600 are regular employees and the rest have been appointed on contract basis through outsourcing.
Even the Board of Intermediate Education and the SSC Board have over 100 employees working on contract basis. The situation is so bad that by paying anything between `5,000 and `20,000, one can get any type of work done with the help of outsourced employees in the examination branches, from leaking question papers to tampering answer sheets and manipulation of marks.
Outsourced employees, who get meagre salaries of `5,000, are often lured with bribes as high as Rs 20,000, depending on the risk. Despite several incidents of outsourced employees being involved in irregularities, the state government still prefers to continue with the contract recruitment system citing “financial constraints”. The recent incident of the B.Com paper leak at OU and the tampering of M.Tech answer sheets in JNTU-Hyderabad are only the tip of the iceberg. Sources say that many such incidents go unreported in universities and the government and university officials remain mute spectators.
Repeated requests of Vice-Chancellors to allot “regular posts” in universities, at least in departments involved in confidential works such as exam duties, are falling on deaf ears. “We have sent proposals for recruiting regular staff in exam branches several times. However, there has been no response from the finance department,” said Prof. D.N. Reddy, V-C, JNTU-Hyderabad. In some cases, the state finance department has been advising the V-Cs to look for “outsourcing employees” even for appointing the controller of examinations, the key official in exam duties, when they approach them with proposals requesting allotment of regular posts.
Source : DC