The authorities also withdrew the first class results of three examinees and awarded first class to two others after reviewing the tabulation sheets.

Sources said two members of the syndicate issued "note of dissent" against the decisions as they think there should be proper investigations into the incident.

As many as 52 students of the political science department had secured first class in the Master of Social Science examinations 2002 (held in 2004). The results gave rise to widespread controversy.

In the re-tabulated results, 51 examinees have secured first class marks.

There were allegations against Examination Committee Chairman Prof Ataur Rahman that the question papers were not kept in his strong room before the examinations and that marks were tampered in the tabulation sheets. There were also allegations of possible irregularities in evaluating the answer papers.

A fact-finding committee headed by Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof AFM Yusuf Haider was formed on February 28 last year to investigate these allegations.

The committee reviewed the tabulation sheets of all examinees and reported a good number of mistakes in them.

It however did not get any proof of leakage of question papers and mark tampering.

DU Syndicate, the highest decision making authority of the university, took the decisions on the basis of the report submitted by this committee.

The authorities said the corrected results will be published soon.

Meanwhile, several members of the fact-finding committee said after taking statements of the teachers, officials and students concerned and verifying related information during their investigation, they think there are possibilities of question paper leakage.

Then acting examination controller Mohammad Bahalul Haq Chowdhury told the committee that he tried to stop publication of the results when the office of the Controller of Examinations was processing the tabulation sheets. Bahalul claimed that examination committee chairman Prof Ataur Rahman threatened him to publish the results fast.

The disputed results were published in June 2005 with Pro-VC AFM Yusuf Haider's signature.

A number of teachers questioned the legitimacy of Prof Haider's inclusion in the fact-finding committee as he had approved the tabulation sheets.

"All the allegations still remain unsolved and one cannot rule out the possibility of question paper leakage. We asked the authorities to form an investigation committee," said Prof Sadeka Halim, a member of the syndicate who issued a note of dissent against the syndicate decision. Prof Sadeka was also a member of the fact-finding committee.

Former president of Dhaka University Teachers' Association Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique said such allegations will remain as stain on the university's goodwill and its examinations system. "There should be a proper investigation into this incident," he said.

Vice-Chancellor Prof SMA Faiz said although there is no proof of question paper leakage and mark tampering, there were some other serious irregularities in the examination process.

"The number of first class achievers changed because of mistakes in counting marks, so the syndicate has decided to bar the teachers concerned from all examination processes of the department."