Bombay High Court (File)
Taking into account the delayed results of Mumbai university, the Commissioner, Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (CET) cell, told the Bombay High Court Tuesday that the cell will extend the deadline for filing of forms for the three-year LLB course to August 31.
This decision will provide relief to students who had made it to the merit list of the law CET but were unable to take admissions in the absence of their mark sheets. While informing the court about the decision, the counsel appearing for the state CET cell added that “any further extension of the deadline will be difficult.”
A bench of Justice Anoop V Mohta and Justice Bharati Dangre was hearing several petitions related to this matter, including one filed by MU law students seeking compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the “loss in educational and employment opportunities” caused from the delay in result declaration.
“The commissioner of CET cell makes a statement that considering the circumstances, the last date for filing of online form for first year three years LLB has been extended. This statement is accepted. The university should inform us what effective steps have been taken by them to declare remaining results of qualifying examination,” said Justice Mohta.
Advocate Rui Rodrigues, appearing for Mumbai university, sought more time to provide clarity on the issue, adding that the university was tackling the matter on “war footing.” He sought time till August 24 for providing the likely date for announcement of all remaining results of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Commerce courses.
Rodrigues told the court that the delay had been caused “due to the unforeseen technological glitches in the varsity’s new online assessment system.”
“These glitches, however, are being resolved. We have canceled the leaves of all the teachers and asked them to concentrate only on assessing answer sheets for now,” Rodrigues said. “One of the issue being faced is that the teachers are not technologically savvy,” he added.
“There is no challenge to your mechanism. But the main concern is about declaration of results,” said Justice Mohta.
Rodrigues said that the session had been delayed earlier this year too owing to the introduction of the CET system. “The fact that students are missing out sessions is not good at all,” said Justice Dangre.
Senior counsel Mihir Desai, appearing for Bombay University and College Teachers’ Union (BUCTU), said, “They have destroyed careers of so many students. If the glitches in the system are not sorted, this will be repeated again in October and in March.”
The court, however, said it would look into this issue at a later stage.
The state government meanwhile, said that the varsity Chancellor and the acting Vice- Chancellor were “personally supervising the assessment process.”
The bench has now directed the university to inform the court on August 24, the next date of hearing, of the likely date of announcement of results. It has also asked the University to submit details of the number of answer papers yet to be assessed for all undergraduate and final year LLB courses.
