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The District Education Officer (DEO) for Vellore, Nesa Prabha, on Friday was suspended by the Department of School Education for dereliction of duty related to preparatory works for Class XII board examinations.
The suspension comes on the day of commencement of examinations on Friday.
Sources said that Nesa Prabha was appointed as the custodian of the Question Papers Control Centre (QPCC) that was set up at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Gudiyatham near Vellore.
The school was one of the three centres in the district earmarked for the purpose.
The other two centres are Government Higher Secondary Schools in Konavattam in Vellore’s Old Town and Katpadi.
The centres were created to ensure timely dispatch of question papers to examination centres in the district for board examinations of Class XI and XII.
Education Department officials said that when question papers for the Gudiyatham centre arrived on February 24, the DEO, who was the custodian of the facility, was absent.
As a result, question papers were handed over to other education officials at the centre.
An inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the reason for the absence on such a crucial day, officials said.
Sources said the absence could be one of the reasons for the suspension as senior officials were expected to be present for such crucial preparatory works ahead of the board examinations to prevent any kind of mischief, including leakage of question papers.
However, other reasons would be known only after receiving the written order from the department, they added.
Meanwhile, a total of 13,904 students, including 7,708 girls appeared for Class XII board examination in Vellore district on Friday.
Around 1,500 teachers have been roped in as invigilators with 86 flying squads for surveillance during the examinations.
Along with Chief Education officer (CEO) S. Manimozhi, Collector V.R.Subbulaxmi inspected the examination centres in the district on Friday.