Yuva Sena seeks probe, action against GLC professor

Letter follows row over re-examination at college

A day after the Mumbai University (MU) asked the Government Law College (GLC) to conduct an examination for law students who were not allowed to appear for a retest, the legal cell of the Yuva Sena wrote to Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao and other university officials seeking an inquiry against a law professor of the college.

A total 270 students from the GLC in Churchgate were left in a tizzy last week after the college refused to hold a re-examination for students who had failed to clear the internal exam. Of the 270 students, 120 had failed the Drafting, Pleading and Conveyance (DPC) exam, which is conducted for the final year students of the five-year and three-year law courses.

While the college conducted a retest on April 26, students alleged that only the absentees whose reasons were favourable to the principal were allowed to take it. On Saturday, the MU said it had tabled the issue in front of its Board of Studies in Law and instructed the college to conduct the practical training re-exam for the students in the first half of the coming academic year.

The allegation

The Yuva Sena, meanwhile, has sought an inquiry and stern action against professor Shamim Dalvi, who teaches DPC, for allegedly asking students to write their details on the answer sheet and failing those who did not. The letter alleged the professor had failed the students with “a vested interest.” “At the beginning of March, Prof. Shamim Dalvi had asked his students to write their names on the answer sheet if they wanted to clear their DPC paper. When the exam was held on March 16, students were instructed again to do the same. Moreover, the time frame of two hours was reduced by 30 minutes,” advocate Dharam Mishra of the Yuva Sena’s legal cell said.

A student, on the condition of anonymity, said the professor entered the class just before the paper started and asked them to write names on the answer sheet. “He had instructed the same in a lectures too. While some wrote their names, some did not. Then a clerk came in and said we were not supposed to write our names,” the student said.

Another student, who failed her test, said, “We were given 30 minutes less to finish the paper. I had not written my name and I feel that because of that I have been failed. I have attempted the paper fully, and see no reason to have failed.”

Mr. Dalvi was unavailable for a comment, while GLC principal Suvarna Keole refused to comment on the matter when The Hindu contacted her.