T.V.S. SARMA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Criminal Appeal is filed against the judgment of the learned XIII Additional Special Judge for CBI Cases, Chennai, dtd. 11/7/2014, made in C.C.No.3 of 2009. By that judgment, the appellant, who was tried as the sole accused, was found guilty:

(2.) On 30/5/2007, the respondent received a complaint from T.Nagarajan, an Engineer & Ship Surveyor-cum-Deputy Director (Technical) at the Mercantile Marine Department, Chennai. The complaint stated that the Mercantile Marine Department is under the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India. The department conducts examinations for Marine Engineer Officers of various grades, from Class-IV to Class-I. These officers, having completed their graduation in Mechanical Engineering and undergone Sea Service or training at Sea, are eligible to sit for the examination. The exam is held centrally across India and comprises two Sec. : Written and Oral. Question papers are prepared and sent from the Directorate General of Shipping, Jahaz Bhavan, Mumbai. There are only three exam centers nationwide: Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. In Chennai, the Principal Officer-cum-Joint Director General (Technical) is the head of the department and appoints the Examination In-charge, Invigilators, and Evaluators. Evaluators are chosen from a panel approved by the Director General. The written exam lasts three hours, with morning and evening sessions, and is conducted in the Mercantile Marine Department's examination hall in Chennai. Immediately after the exam, the Invigilator collects the answer sheets from candidates and hands them over to the Examination In-charge for safekeeping. The In-charge, after coding (assigning a secret number), supplies the answer sheets to the empanelled Evaluators for assessment. Evaluators conduct their evaluations either in the conference hall or in the department's examination hall. Once evaluated, answer sheets are returned to the Examination In-charge. Candidates then proceed to the Viva/Oral Test. Those who qualify in both tests receive Certificates of Competency (COC) for sailing in international shipping, which are recognized worldwide.

(3.) While the accused, T.V.S.Sarma, was serving as Examination In- Charge from April 2005 to January 2006, information about widespread malpractice during the Engineers' examination was received. Two specific instances of cheating were identified. During the examination on 18th and 19/1/2006 for the subjects Marine Electro Technology and Ship Cadet Stability, some candidates submitted answer sheets with most pages left blank, which were scored off in pencil, and on certain pages, answers were written partially in pencil. The invigilator supervising the exam hall, suspecting foul play, took photocopies of the answer sheets of two candidates, Sathyasrinivasaallu and Peddada Kalyana Krishna, before handing the originals to the Examination In-Charge, the accused. Later, since the same invigilator, Ajivasudevan (P.W.6), was the subject expert, these papers were brought to him for evaluation. He discovered that the blank spaces scored off were filled with complete answers in pen, and the partially written answers were also completed. He immediately reported this to the Principal Officer, T.Nagarajan. Nagarajan then called the two candidates and confronted them with photocopies of their original answer sheets. They admitted that they had rewritten the answers afterwards. They revealed the modus operandi: they had been told by the owner of Jayanthi Lodge that passing the exam was possible by paying a certain amount through agents. Subsequently, a person named W.N.S.Butt approached them at the lodge and quoted Rs.50,000.00 per paper. He claimed to have helped many candidates before. He instructed them to leave the answers blank or fill them in pencil, and after the exam, he would collect the answer sheets and provide them with the correct answers from books or materials. The candidates admitted to paying W.N.S.Butt Rs.3,00,000.00 for six papers and Rs.2.5 lakhs for five papers. They followed these instructions during the exam. That very night, they received the answer sheets at the lodge, erased the scored and pencil-written portions, and filled in the correct answers.