One-year course over in just 12 days at MSU

CHENNAI: More skeletons seem to be tumbling out of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University’s closet,  the latest being the completion of a one-year post graduate diploma course in computer applications in just 12 days, courtesy the then varsity V-C R T Sabapathy. According to evidence available with Express, more than 625 students from a varsity centre in Seoni in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, got provisional admission to the course on January 5, 2011 and verifiable records say that the examination was conducted on January 17, 2011, just 12 days after the admission. Interestingly, this particular centre had entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Manonmaniam Sundarnar University only in November 2010, university sources said. The results too had been announced by the end of April 2011 and  students were about to get their marksheets in July, when director in-charge of distance education R Ramesh put the bra kes.  Ramesh told Express  that the  university had taken action and withheld the certificates. “Without constant support from higher authorities in the then State government, such daring acts could not have been done by Sabapathy, a close aide of then higher education minister K Ponmudy,” alleged university sources.When Express contacted the centre in Seoni in Indore in Madhya Pradesh, the authorities said that since it was only a PG diploma course, they had got the application forms much earlier and submitted them only in January.  When the MoU was signed only in November, how could have they collected the application forms earlier, wondered Ramesh.University sources said if a CBI inquiry is ordered, several other malpractices such as issue of bogus certificates, overnight degrees, etc., during Sabapathy’s tenure, could come to light. Ramesh alleged that such scams brought disrepute to the university and it was the responsibility of the government to probe this issue so that innocent students were not cheated.