As the chaos over results continues at the University of Mumbai, it has now come to light that it skipped the most important step in the tendering process, namely signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with MeritTrac — the company given the contract for the on-screen marking (OSM) process. Sources in the university have revealed that no MoU was signed between the university and MeritTrac when the contract was made final.

"While the university followed the tendering process, one key step in the process of finalising of agency i.e., signing of the MoU was skipped. While the MoU is not a legal document, it is an important step in the whole process, skipped by VC Sanjay Deshmukh" said a source from the government on the condition of anonymity.

With over 1.5 lakh answer sheets were yet to be evaluated as of Sunday, this means MU is likely to miss the August 15 deadline as well.

With this revelation over the MoU, questions are now being raised over the credibility of the company appointed for the whole process. It has once again underlined the question of how the decision to bring OSM was taken in a hurried manner. "MoU is the most important document while finalising any contract. It lists out the terms and conditions of the entire process for both parties and also has some important guidelines which need to be followed throughout the process. OSM is a very big step by the university as the future of over 4 lakh students is at stake. If the university did not sign a MoU with the company for such an important contract, it is really shocking," said AD Sawant, former Pro-VC of the university. Sawant said that in the 160 years of the university's history, this might be the first time a MoU was skipped for such an important task. Nagendran Sundarajan, executive vice-president, MeritTrac refused to speak to DNA on the issue. "The university has not allowed us to comment on this issue," he said.

The university invited tenders for the OSM process in March 2017 on its official website. However, as it failed to get bidders, norms with respect to the eligible company were revised. While the annual turnover condition was brought down from Rs 100 crore to Rs 30 crore, the minimum technical score requirement for the bidder was brought down from 70 to 60. Finally, on April 28, MU appointed MeritTrac, a Bangalore based agency for the task. The company has been under the scanner ever since due to glitches in the system leading to further delay in the process.