Mumbai: Law students protest against 'inefficiency' in admission process

Law students seeking admission to three-year courses protested outside the Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell on Monday after the admission body put the process on hold last week. Around 60 students protested against the “inefficiency” of the cell and demanded that the admission process be resumed. Monday was the last date of submitting online applications.

The problem arose because several students had entered their marks erroneously on their online application forms. The matter came to light after the merit list was announced last week and colleges started verifying the documents. The CET Cell then held over the admissions of all such candidates until further notice.

Meanwhile, the error on the part of some candidates has derailed the entire merit list.

The candidates, on the other hand, protested and claimed that the admission process was flawed and the CET Cell had not clarified about the marks on the portal.

“Many of us have scored high marks but were denied admission to a college because the merit list is flawed,” said a candidate who had applied to the Government Law College at Churchgate. While the merit list is prepared on the basis of CET scores of a candidate, in case of a tie, the candidate’s graduation marks are considered. Several aspirants were turned down by the college on Monday leading to more confusion.

A E Rayate, the commissioner of the state CET Cell, said that several students who graduated from the University of Mumbai had entered their marks for their final-year exams, instead of the aggregate of three years. “The university follows a credit-based grading system. So, candidates seem to have miscalculated their marks while applying. It is a mistake on the part of the candidates,” he said. Until Monday evening, the CET Cell was learning about such cases from the colleges.

“We are yet to ascertain how many aspirants have made a mistake in their applications. Once that is clear, we will seek permission from the Examination Regulatory Authority to allow these candidates to make amendment on their applications. We did not want to scrap the entire merit list, as it would have been unfair to other applicants,” said Rayate.
News Source (Indian Express)