The assurance came after Higher and Technical Education Minister Datta Rane was virtually grilled for more than 30 minutes by opposition members Vyamkappa Patki, Arun Mehta, Ramkrisna More and others during question hour in the Legislative Council.

The opposition members strongly demanded dismissal of Mumbai University's vice-chancellor Dr Snehalata Deshmukh over the issue. Though the CM refused to accept this demand, he assured the House that neither Dr Deshmukh nor any other University official would interfere in the CID inquiry.

Three examiners were debarred from correcting exam papers and a temporary University employee suspended after the irregularities in the engineering exams came to light in December last year. The results of two engineering students were also withheld by the University.

Throwinglight on the malpractices, Patki said, ``The examiner was paid Rs 6,000 as bribe, and a peon paid Rs 600 for altering marksheets. However, no case was registered with the Anti-Corruption Bureau. Why did the University fail to initiate police action in the case?''

Datta Rane said 17 cases of irregularities were detected in Terna College of Engineering, Ramrao Adik College of Engineering and Annasaheb Patil College of Engineering. ``Action has been initiated in six cases, according to the University Act. University employee P B Lomte has been transferred to Osmanabad and his increment stopped. One more employee, Kamde, has been transferred,'' he said.

However, Rane's assurance of action against the guilty examiners failed to satisfy opposition members, who repeatedly asked that Dr Deshmukh be dismissed and the guilty examiners disqualified from functioning as teachers. After the situation turned chaotic, CM Rane intervened and announced a CID probe was being instituted.