Nagpur: The Nagpur University has marked ‘absent’ and failed four Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) students from Wardha-based Agnihotri College in their final exam even though it was the external examiner appointed by the university who cancelled his visit hours before the viva.

The MPharm course involves dissertation, viva-voce and seminar. The students had submitted their thesis, conducted seminar, and had come prepared for the viva on June 30, the date given by the examiner as well as the deadline set by the university. Without assessment by an external examiner, the final marks can’t be forwarded to the exam section for preparing result.

A college official said NU had given three names in the panel for this lot of MPharm students. “The first two external examiners were from out of state, and expressed regret. The third was from Pune and agreed to come on June 23. After a couple of days, the third examiner too expressed his inability to come,” he said.

The college immediately wrote to the Research Recognition Committee (RRC) of NU. A RRC member assured the college that the Pune examiner would come on June 30 and formalities should be completed.

“We had booked the flight ticket and made arrangements. But the examiner called up 15 minutes before the flight scheduled at 7am on June 30, saying he wouldn’t come,” a college official said. Thereafter, the college kept sending reminders, asking the RRC to set up a new panel for the four MPharm students.

On July 18, when the result was announced, the college and students were baffled to see that the four were marked absent with a ‘fail’ result. “We were shocked to see that the result was declared and we were marked fail for no fault of ours,” the students told TOI.

They said there were 13 postgraduate students at the college divided in different lots for the viva.

Another lot from the college had faced the problem of examiner withdrawing, but the RRC had promptly allotted a new panel, and the first member agreed to come and their viva was conducted, the students said.

Director of Examinations and Evaluation board Neeraj Khaty said the students were not failed but the result was ‘withheld’. “The college has been given extension for holding viva till August 14,” he said.

An NU official said exam section declares result to meet the 30-day deadline prescribed by the Act. “Most of the colleges, including rest of the nine Agnihotri students, had completed the viva. The result of all couldn’t be kept pending just for one batch of students,” he said.

