Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 30: Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu Sanjeev Gupta today awarded three years imprisonment to Ram Kangotra, the then Head Assistant Professional Evaluation Engineering Unit of University of Jammu for altering of marks.
According to the prosecution case, in pursuant to a complaint regarding variations made in award of the students appearing in different semesters of the Engineering Examination held in February 2005, the then Vice Chancellor University of Jammu got a fact finding inquiry conducted through Prof L K Verma, Controller of Examination and two other officers of the University.
During the course of inquiry, it was found that there were cuttings on the marks cards and marks files which were not in conformity with marks mentioned in the evaluated scripts. The marks of some of the students were found wrongly enhanced. This led to the registration of First Information Report (FIR) by the Vigilance Organization, Jammu.
After hearing CPO Harminder Singh for the VOJ whereas Advocate Rohit Verma for the accused, Special Judge Anticorruption observed, “the corruption by public servants has become a gigantic problem. No facet of public activity has been left unaffected by the stink of corruption and everyone has to suffer on that count. The way rampant corruption is prevalent in the society I do not think there is any serious scope for reforming the public servants indulging in such type of activities”.
“However, it is the duty of the court while dealing with such an individual offender to impose harsh punitive sentence which may not only act as deterrent for such an offender but also for other members of society from the repetition of crime or the imitation by them of similar actions. Thus, while awarding sentence in cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the court should come to the expectation of the people regarding its paramount duty to prevent corruption in the society by providing stern sentence”, Special Judge Anticorruption said.
“In the present case we are dealing with the matter in which accused an employee of University has been convicted on the charges of criminal misconduct and forgery by abuse of his official position. The counsel for the accused submitted that the accused is more than 60 years of age and is suffering from number of ailments and therefore prayed for taking a lenient view against the accused”, the court said, adding “utmost integrity must be the hallmark of an official working as a public servant in the evaluation section of the University which produces the future Technocrats, Doctors, Leaders etc”.
“The accused deserves no sympathy and is convicted for offences under Sections 466, 468 and 471 RPC and 5(1) (d) read with Section 5 (2) of PC Act and sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of three years”, the court ordered.
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