Even as students’ agitation against the NEET examination question paper leak, demanding the resignation of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan continued in Delhi Uttarakhand Technical University terminated its assistant professor for sharing a semester question paper with students prior to the examination.
Shivalik College of Engineering terminated the guilty professor, Ashish Gupta, who allegedly leaked two semester examination question papers conducted by Veer Madhao Singh Bhandari Uttarakhand Technical University (UTU). Gupta’s expulsion resulted from the direction from the University for strict action against the erring professor. Following his termination, Gupta was also booked under relevant sections of the BNS and an FIR was lodged against him.
Confirming the incident, Uttarakhand Higher Education Minister Dhan Singh Rawat said, “UTU was quick to take all necessary steps regarding the question paper leak at an engineering college in the state. The guilty teacher was terminated after a probe ordered by UTU and reexamination was ordered. No one will be spared by the University if others too are found involved in it.”
TS Sidhu, Director Shivalik College of Engineering, stated that no sooner matter came to the light, a showcause notice was issued to the Ashish Gupta and his increment was stopped while an inquiry was ordered by the UTU. He informed that the charges against assistant professor were found true in a joint probe by the institute and the university and his services were terminated with immediate effect. Sidhu emphasised that no compromise would be made to keep integrity and confidentiality of the examination system.
UTU Vice-Chancellor Dr Trupta Thakur told the media that legal opinion was being sought in the matter and a case was registered as part of legal proceedings against the guilty professor. According to Thakur, the accused assistant professor has been banned from all university examination related activities for seven years.
The UTU VC further shared that investigation revealed that Gupta leaked the question papers for Machine Learning for Internet of Things and Electromagnetic Field Theory to the students much before the examination was to begin. Gupta shared the question paper to the students through internal portal network and in WhatsApp. Thakur said both the examinations were cancelled after the investigation. These papers will be re-conducted in the third week of August.