“Given that around 80,000 students are awarded degrees each year, even if 10 per cent of the certificates are returned for 10 consecutive years the number of certificates that the university has to store is well over 50,000,” said Onkar Sadhan Adhikari, Controller of Examinations CU.

“I don’t know what to do with the certificates. I have raised the issue with the senate of the university,” said Adhikari. There is practically no space for storing these certificates, he added.

A CU official said that earlier the university used to handover the certificates at the convocation. However, there were been instances when the convocation ceremony could not been conducted. Subsequently, a few years ago the university decided not to award the certificates during the convocation ceremony. The move, however, further added to the certificate pile because most students are not present at the convocation. University authorities say that once a student is out of the college it becomes very difficult to locate him and hand over the certificate to him.