Pune: The Savitribai Phule Pune University changed the minimum pass percentage for its law course from 50% to 40% aggregate of all subjects in December. However, the new rule was not applied while declaring the results last week, making students unhappy as the pass percentage is barely 10-12% in some colleges. University officials said the rule would be implemented from next semester only as a full approval by the academic council was still awaited.
Some students from various colleges in the city submitted a letter to the vice chancellor, Nitin Karmalkar, on Tuesday, appealing him to implement the amended rule and declare the results accordingly. They said the results declared as per the old rules had impacted students majorly.
Abhishek Raskar, who was part of the students' group that approached the university on Tuesday, said, "The university officials had verbally assured us that the rule would be implemented from the current academic year, but we were shocked when the results were declared as per the old rule."
During a meeting of principals of law colleges in October last year, Karmalkar had said, "The pass percentage of first year students in the recent past was about 8-10%. The issue was discussed with principals and representatives of law schools under the SPPU to find a solution."
Arvind Shaligram, officiating registrar, SPPU, said, "The process of taking full approval from the academic council and passing it though the university statute is pending, although it was given an in-principle nod in December. The rule can be implemented only after the process in over. As the administrative work is still pending, the rule was not implemented during the last results."
ILS Law College principal Vaijayanti Joshi said, "I think the varsity may have thought of applying the rule from a fresh academic year."
