Mumbai: A PIL was filed for uniformity in the exam pattern and timely declaration of results after there was no consistency in the exam pattern throughout Maharashtra's universities. The Bombay HC, on Monday, May 30, has made the decision in favour of students and has directed the government and Universities to decide on the uniform exam pattern across the state. The plea was heard by a bench of Justices Milind Jadhav and Abhay Ahuja.
Students from Maharashtra's colleges and universities had petitioned the Bombay High Court for uniformity in exam mode, as well as an announcement of results on time. The petition was filed by law student Balusha Bhasal and Kalpesh Yadav. According to the court's verdict, petitioners have to file a representation with the government, and the government to convene a meeting with the petitioners and universities to resolve the issues, with the Universities to follow the same exam pattern across the state.
Students of all Universities of Maharashtra demanded for online examination, but as industries & placements were not in favour they agreed to conduct offline mode. Different universities have adopted a different pattern of examination as per their convenience, and Universities like Mumbai have already conducted the examination for many courses. Students from Mumbai University still feel they have faced injustice already. "MU students have already appeared for exams in descriptive mode and have faced injustice as other universities have given students an edge by offering MCQ pattern, says Faisal Shaikh, President of the National Students Union of India, Mumbai.
"It was the duty of Universities to ensure uniformity in the examination pattern, as during the online examination row, they repeatedly quoted about corporate's demand now with such variations. Students appearing in the MCQ pattern will have advantages over the ones appearing in the descriptive pattern. Would that be a fair competition in the corporate world? " He added.
Despite the fact that the state Higher Education Minister, Uday Samant, and vice chancellors of all Maharashtra universities agreed on April 25 to conduct exams in a uniform manner, few universities continued to conduct them in different ways, such as offline or online, descriptive or MCQs. Kalpesh Yadav, the Petitioner, said, "Universities were conducting the examination as per their need. This was a complete injustice for students across the universities in Maharashtra. We welcome the decision by the Bombay HC and it is a great victory for the students of universities in Maharashtra we will file the representation tomorrow, and the decision for the uniformity in the examination will be made on June 1."
Following the success of students, student unions that had objected to the previous decision of universities, are now relieved by the decision of the Bombay High Court. Maharashtra Students Welfare Association President Vaibhav Edke said, "It is a victory of democracy. For many days students were protesting their issues, but no authorities took cognizance of that. But today, after the verdict to take a uniform decision regarding the summer semester exams. It will help the students to secure their rank and compete with the other university students. Now the state government should take a decision considering the student's benefit.
