With rising instances of cheating at the examinations conducted by the University of Pune, the issue of misconduct of students is all set to feature prominently at the senate meeting of the varsity scheduled for this Thursday.

The records of the examination department of the University have revealed that in the second term exam of 2008-09, 2595 students were found cheating, of which 2415 students were fined. The senate members have now tabled a proposal to take stern action against students found copying instead of merely charging fines.

In reply to a question asked by Dhanyakumar Jain regarding the misconduct of students during exams, management council member T N Kanawade informed that around 2595 students were found copying in the second term exam of 2008-09.

The issue assumes significance, as students of an engineering institute were caught while mass copying in the same exam and it was alleged that teachers had helped them. While the inquiry committee gave a clean chit to the teachers, a fine of around Rs 5 lakh was collected from around 200 students for copying.

As allegations were levelled against teachers too, a proposal to widen the scope of punishment for copying has also been tabled. Ashok Agarkar has proposed that the varsity should take firm steps to control mass copying.

“Only charging a fine from students found copying would not serve the purpose. Stern action should be taken against such students so that they would not dare to do such a thing in future,” says the proposal. Meanwhile, according to a senior senate member, teachers’ representatives on the senate will table an adjournment motion on the issue of increasing cases of mass copying.