Gaya: Discarding the use of locally available answer books, the Magadh University syndicate has approved the proposal to make online purchase of answer books used in undergraduate and postgraduate exams conducted by the varsity.

The purchase will be made through GeM (govt emarketplace), a dedicated portal for the procurements made by the central and state governments. The e-purchase decision was taken at the recently held syndicate meet. The syndicate is the apex executive body having vast academic and administrative powers.

The shift to e-purchase through the government portal is being taken as an attempt to infuse transparency. Locally procured answer books are regarded as the facilitator of the degree scandal in the university . According to sources, blank answer books printed at the university press are easily avai-lable and proper accounting of the answer books actually printed and used is not available.

A senior official of the university said leak and misuse of locally made answer books has been common and such answer books also lack security features.