This year, owing to repeated extension in dates, colleges now estimate that the final round of admissions to the three-year law degree course would take place only by mid-November. (file photo)
As the date for admissions to three-year law courses across Maharashtra has been extended due to the delay in declaration of results by Mumbai University, law colleges now anticipate tough days ahead. On the one hand, the managements are worried that the delay will lead to a drop in admissions, while the other challenge is to complete the syllabus in time.
Last year, too, law colleges had complained that admissions were delayed owing to the Centralised Admission Process (CAP) being applied for the first time for law courses, which, until the 2015-2016 academic year, took place at the college level itself.
However, last year, even after delays, colleges had started lectures on October 3. This year, owing to repeated extension in dates, colleges now estimate that the final round of admissions to the three-year law degree course would take place only by mid-November.
College principals said that with barely a few weeks to complete the syllabus, they would have to conduct classes even on weekends and holidays, which is unfair to staffers.
“We are not blaming anyone as we know that the delay in results of Mumbai University has led to this situation and schedules across the state have been affected. But consider our position. First, the syllabus is new, which means lesson plans change. It doesn’t stop at lectures, we need time for paper setting and correction. It puts a lot of pressure on law colleges and many times, we have to make staffers work on holidays and take extra lectures to complete the syllabus. Not only this, but it affects our co-curricular activities like debates and moot courts. Even last year, admissions were delayed and we barely got any time to do it,” said Shubhada Gholap, principal of Yeshwantrao Chavan Law College.
The bigger worry that colleges have is that the number of students opting for law course admissions might be fewer.
“In most other courses, by the time it’s November, one semester is over and exams are being held. Not all students who take admissions might have law as their first or only choice. There are many students who are undecided between two courses or have law as one of their options. Consider it from a student’s point of view. How many of them would wait till November? There is so much uncertainty here, whether even after November they would get a college of their choice or not? Hence, we lose out on many students who could have taken admissions. It happened last year as well, when many colleges saw at least 25-30 per cent vacancies,” said Sunita Adhav, principal of Modern Law College.
