Basavaraj Rayareddy: No role in marks card scam

Bengaluru: Denying any scam in implementing uniform marks cards in different universities, Higher Education Minister Mr Basavaraj Rayareddy said that NSUI President Mr Manjunath had never met him regarding any such scam.

Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, Mr Rayareddy said that Mr Manjunath should have approached him first, before taking the complaint to AICC General Secretary Mr K.C. Venugopal.

“Mr Manjunath had come to me sometime ago, seeking a carry over system for VTU students, who failed in the examinations. I told him that the issue does not come under my jurisdiction and the University Syndicate had to decide. He came and quarrelled with me for a week and then stopped coming. He wanted me to intervene as a Minister. If he had brought this issue to my notice, I would have got the matter inquired into,” Mr Rayareddy said.

On the uniform marks card system, Mr Rayareddy said.  “When the issue came up in the Higher Education Council, the members passed a resolution to hand it over to the government owned MSIL, which supplies paper under Lekhak brand. They floated tenders and the lowest bidder was Devars company.” 
Denying allegations that the company was black listed, Mr Rayareddy said that he would get the issue checked again. 

“If the allegations are proved true, then I will recommend to the Chief Minister and Industries department to initiate action against the officials,'' he said.
Of the 26, only six universities are getting MSIL printed marks sheets. As per tender conditions, the security systems have been adopted as per RBI guidelines, where the marks cards cannot be tampered with, Mr Rayareddy said.

Besides, the Universities, which procured marks sheet through MSIL have saved huge amount of money, besides getting at least eight security features of their choice, which would prevent printing of fake marks sheets, he added.