The Tribhuvan University has accepted that one of its officials increased the marks scored by a master’s student on several occasions to award him degrees of three subjects.

Ram Bahadur Karmacharya, chief of the Secret Department under the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, had taken bribes to manipulate the scores of Surendra Koirala, a student at Patan Multiple Campus.

Dilli Upreti, the university registrar, told the Education and Health Committee of Parliament on Tuesday that Karmacharya had taken thousands of rupees from Surendra to alter the latter’s test scores on several subjects in the disciplines of sociology, economics, and rural development.

“The marks had been increased in five subjects in economics, and two to three each in sociology and rural development,” Upreti told the parliamentary committee.

The highest score manipulation was found in one of the subjects in economics in which Koirala’s original score of 9 was changed into 69.

Investigation has revealed that Karmacharya had raised Surendra’s test scores in five subjects from 5 to 60 marks.

“This is a personal act, therefore it shouldn’t be taken as an institutional corruption,” Upreti said, noting that the university has already suspended Karmacharya for his dishonourable action.

Karmacharya was heading the department for the last 18 years. There are different secret departments for different faculties where the marks ledgers and the mark-sheets are prepared based on the score slips presented by professors. He was caught by a team while reviewing test scores.

Surendra, who was caught trying to unjustly earn degrees in sociology, economics, and rural development, already has a master’s degree in political science—apparently, the only degree that he earned without fraud.

Both Surendra and Karmacharya are currently in custody of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority.

“The investigation is in progress. We are yet to ascertain if other officials were also involved in the case,” Pradip Koirala, spokesperson at the commission, told the Post.

Meanwhile, the university has formed its own committee to investigate if a similar malpractice is taking place in other faculties.

Irregularities are not uncommon in the country’s oldest and largest varsity.

Only last month, the Service Commission of the university was accused of manipulating the test scores to award jobs to the

relatives of senior officials and professors. The case is under investigation.