Mumbai University and Maharashtra govt issued notices by Bombay HC seeking replies in delay of law exam results

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court Monday issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai University seeking their response on the delay in announcement of law exam results in 2017. A bench of Justices Anoop V Mohta and Bharati Dangre said considering the chaos surrounding the delay in the assessment of the final semester LLB answer-sheets in 2017, the “state and the university must join hands to tackle the crisis”. [caption id=“attachment_3877593” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Mumbai University. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons[/caption] The bench was hearing a bunch of petitions filed by affected students seeking that the authorities be directed to announce the results without further delay. One of the pleas, filed by three final year law students, has also sought that the varsity be directed to award monetary compensation to the students, who have had to endure much agony and have missed out on several opportunities for higher studies in the absence of their undergraduate results. As per the university’s own records, around one lakh law students took their final year exams in April and May this year and are awaiting the results, they contended. According to the petitioners, statutory rules mandate that the university must declare the results of any exam within 45 days of its completion, and that all new academic sessions commence latest by 1 August each year. The petitioners contended that the primary reason for the delay was the “university’s decision to use the new on-screen assessment system without ensuring adequate infrastructure for its implementation”. Counsel of one of the petitioners claimed that there were even reports that the university had “mixed up the supplementary and main answer sheets of some students, and that in several cases, the student’s main answer sheets had gone missing, thus resulting in further chaos.” The petitioners told the court the university had announced earlier that the assessment of the law papers will be completed by 24 August, but it “seemed unlikely”.