``Theft of such documents is due to sheer irresponsibility of the staff concerned, but holding a re-exam won't be a good remedy,'' the Minister said.

He informed he had had detailed discussion on the matter with Mumbai Board chairman S Abidi, and it was decided that the Board's standing committee would take necessary action against the erring officials. ``One solution the committee may consider is to see the performance of the affected candidates in other subjects and reward the average of this as marks for the missing paper,'' he pointed out.

Over 50 answer papers were stolen from an examiner who boarded a state transport bus from Mumbai Central on Thursday night to go to Mahad.

Nagpada police have said some bag-lifter in the bus may have mistaken Gaus' briefcase for one containing money and other valuables, andpicked it on the sly.

But one question that still remains unanswered is, why were the papers being so carelessly transported in an ST bus?

The Mumbai Board secretary of the Maharashtra State Board for Secondary & Higher Secondary Education, A D Dixit, said: ``We normally make use of the Central government's registered postal services to deliver papers to examiners. We're still making enquiries as to how this incident happened, and we shall take appropriate action.''