Jamshedpur, March 12: The Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) has decided to initiate an inquiry into the recent leak of question papers for the Class IX board examinations.

For the past two years, the council has taken the onus of preparing the question papers for the Class IX examinations. The question papers are sent to the respective schools well in advance of the exams.

It is the responsibility of the institutions to ensure the smooth and fair conduct of the board examinations.

Sources said the science question paper for Class IX board tests was available in the market on the day of the examination. The examination was held on Saturday (March 11). Though officials of the council ruled out the involvement of any racket they, however, admitted that this was for the first time that a question paper was being leaked.

According to sources, the question paper leaked to students was hand-written and its photo-copies were available in the market.

A senior member of the state?s academic council, Dineshanand Goswami, told The Telegraph that it was a serious issue. ?We will initiate a probe in this connection. We will try to find out as to how the question paper was leaked,? he added.

According to officials, the principals of various high schools in the city will also be quizzed during the process of inquiry.

?We decided to prepare the question papers for the Class IX board examination to ensure uniformity. Such an initiative was taken so that the students get familiar with a particular pattern of questions. The suggestion in this regard had come forth from the school principals,? said another council official.

Meanwhile, the academic apex panel had directed all the schools across the state to be extra cautious so that such mistakes are not repeated in the future. Only after the inquiry will the council take a decision as to whether to conduct a re-examination for the leaked question paper.