Several social and academic organisations and groups have been demanding his resignation ever since police arrested Assistant Registrar Yadav Kohchade and some others involved in the marks and marklists racket.

Some newspaper reports indicated that Chopane was likely to quit. The VC on Tuesday firmly scotched these rumours.

Instead, he spoke of having ``accepted the challenge'' thrown before the university by the exposure of the racket. ``It is very important for the university to recover from this scandal first. It would not be proper for me to resign at this time,'' he said.

He said, the university is trying to enforce sweeping reforms in the examination system. The VC was confident that these steps would prove effective.

He explained that since he joined as Vice Chancellor his concentration was on academic matters. ``Had I known about this racket earlier, Iwould certainly have taken steps and prevented it from reaching these proportions,'' he said.

This explanation is not acceptable to some, though. Pradeep Hadke, secretary of the Dr Ambedkar Teachers' Welfare Association, claims that about two years back the association had informed the VC about corrupt activities in the examination section, college section and backward classes cell.

``He (Chopane) just indulged in some sweet talk with us but actually did nothing to curb these activities,'' says Hadke while demanding the VC's resignation.

Hadke alleges that the university bosses failed to act because the whole racket was operated under the protection of some influential individuals and politicians. The Vice Chancellor and the Pro-Vice Chancellor cannot escape their responsibility in this scandal and should resign from their posts, the association has demanded.

Others in the university have recalled the case of 1972 when students of Nagpur University had indulged in mass copying which led to theresignation of the then Vice Chancellor V B Kolte.

``But even Kolte had resigned only upon the `advice' of the then Chancellor Nawab Ali Yawar Jung and not on his own,'' pointed out a senior academic.

A couple of members of the Management Council, Balraj Aher and Ved Prakash Mishra, agreed with the stand taken by Chopane. They felt that to resign now would be construed as an act of escapism.