Pune, 31 March 2026: Heavy rainfall in Pune on Monday led to several answer sheets stored in the examination department of Savitribai Phule Pune University getting soaked.
The incident triggered concern over the handling of academic records and quickly drew attention from student organizations.
Student groups, including the Vidyarthi Sangharsh Kruti Samiti and the Republican Bahujan Vidyarthi Parishad (Athawale faction), strongly criticised the university administration.
They alleged that lakhs of answer sheets were damaged due to carelessness, calling it a serious lapse that could potentially affect students’ academic future.
The protestors claimed that such incidents reflect poor management and disregard for students’ careers. They demanded accountability from the university and stricter measures to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
In response, Dr. Prabhakar Desai, in-charge director of the Board of Examinations and Evaluation, stated that the answer sheets in question were already marked for disposal. As per university rules, such papers are discarded only after the declaration of results and completion of all evaluation and re-evaluation processes.
He further explained that the process of handing over these answer sheets to a contractor was underway when the rainfall occurred, leading to some of them getting wet.
However, he assured that all academic procedures related to these papers had already been completed, and no student’s results or academic record would be affected.