Bhubaneswar: Orissa's prestigious Utkal University has been rocked by allegations that several students were given higher marks than they had actually got.

Oriya news portal odisha.com reported that higher marks were given to dozens of students who appeared in the final year examination conducted by Utkal University this year.

The irregularities came to light following an internal probe by the university into the marks scam, the portal said, and added that the report had not yet been officially made public by the university.

'I am aware of it. The university officials will meet soon to discuss the matter,' Vice-Chancellor Laxmi Narayan Mishra told IANS.

'I will try to ascertain the facts from the concerned authorities and take severe action against those found guilty,' state Higher Education Minister Samir Dey said.

According to the portal, the results of the +3 Final Degree Examinations, 2007, were published on June 27 and posted on the university website.

Some unidentified people informed P.K. Kar, the then Controller of Examinations of the university, about the tampering of marks following which the university appointed a three-member committee to probe the allegations.

The committee, headed by Sailabala Senapati, principal, Kamala Nehru Women's College, Bhubaneswar, submitted its report on Aug 14.

The committee found large-scale irregularity and tampering in the examination results and that over a dozen students had been given higher marks in various subjects, compared to their real marks.

According to a photocopy of the report that the portal has published, a student with Roll No. 117U4009 who was awarded only 5 marks in English Paper-II got 25 after his marks were tampered with.

Similarly Roll No. 106A04050 who had originally secured only 17 in English Paper-II was shown as being given 47, Roll No. 106A05054, who had got 19 marks in the same paper, was given 49 in the tampered mark sheet.

The committee recommended that the university institute a probe by an external agency into the scam, but it has not been done yet, the portal said.

Utkal University was established in 1943.

Last month, state School and Mass Education Minister Bishnu Charan Das had resigned following allegations that he directed officials of his department to increase the marks of his son in the high school certificate exams held this year. IANS