The Bombay High Court recently suggested a uniform mechanism for admission to all State universities on the basis of either the marks obtained by students only in the final year or the average secured in all years.
A Division Bench of Justices B.R Gavai and M.S Karnik was hearing a petition filed by student Karan Sanjanwala against Government Law College, after he was denied admission due to an error he made while filling his Maharashtra Common Entrance Test form.
Mr. Sanjanwala had entered his final year marks as his graduation score, instead of the average marks secured in all years of the course. He received provisional admission based on his final year marks, but was denied admission when the error was found out.
The order said students are “suffering unnecessarily” because of the disparity in the procedure followed by different universities when considering the eligible score to secure admission. “We find it appropriate that at least in all the universities which are under the control of Maharashtra there should be some uniform practice as to whether the average marks are to be considered or only the marks obtained in the final year are to be considered as [the graduation score], to avoid unnecessary situations,” the court said.
The Bench said Mumbai University should not take a “hyper technical approach” for admissions, and meritorious students should not be denied admission on the ground of inadvertent errors committed while entering their marks.
The court said, “The instructions for admission should be more clear to avoid any confusion to students,” and directed the university to regularise the Mr. Sanjanwala’s admission to the first year of LLB.
