Mumbai: MU found contradicting its own notice after minister's 'speedy' degree row

Mumbai: In contrast to the usual fracas of delayed hall tickets and postponed exam results, Mumbai University (MU), in a first, sparked controversy over delivering a document before time.

The varsity was recently accused of providing the State Higher and Technical Education Minister, Chandrakant Patil, a copy (Duplicate) of his convocation certificate in just a day while it is known that others often have to wait for months to acquire the same.

This comes after the MU, in a circular dated June 12, 2019, stated that recalculated marks, copies of student degrees, and mark sheets, can only be procured after making an online application via the Maharashtra government portal and the existing process of accepting applications will be brought to an end.

The documents and receipts accessed by the student faction show that the university made an exception for the Higher Education Minister, who was allowed to make an offline application and allegedly received his degree within eight hours.

“We have documents demonstrating that the application process was done offline, and the fees were paid offline too. MU guidelines clearly state that the degree certificate can only be given after an online application. We believe that the minister has misused his position and finished the process offline to obtain his diploma in only eight hours,” said Pradeep Sawant.

On March 23, 2023, Maharashtra’s Higher Education Minister Chandrakant Patil allegedly applied for a duplicate degree certificate at Mumbai University after his original document went missing. Patil, who graduated from MU-affiliated Siddharth College in 1980, was given a copy of his degree on the same day, which does not happen with all other students.

Responding to these allegations, officials from the varsity stated that MU's older degrees were created manually and not sent out for printing, which enabled them to make a speedy copy. “The old degree formats are ready with us, where the details are only entered manually. The university has faced no pressure from Chandrakant Patil or his office,” said an MU official.

While addressing the claims about omitting the online process, an MU official told The FPJ that the university makes exceptions with regard to the online process in case of emergencies.

Image of the receipt of the duplicate degree certificate.

Published on: Friday, April 14, 2023, 08:10 PM IST