Different campuses tell different tales of struggles, success and failures. Mumbai Admissions 2018 has just taken the bar for struggles to a whole new level. After the first merit list was announced on June 19, 2018, the second merit list was never released as admissions were halted after the orders by the State Education Minister on June 21, 2018. The University administration has been silent so far.
Why Did This Happen?
This happened as the colleges issued merit lists without any reservation for SC/ST and OBC categories. The college administrations were following the November 2017 order that sought to remove reserved seats for students from SC/ST and OBC categories in colleges where 50% reservations belonged to the minority category. This order referred to as the Constitutional Amendment of 2005 which sought to cancel such reservations for minority institutions. This amendment of 2005 was made adhering to Article 15 (5) of Indian Constitution which elucidates that minority institutions under Article 30 shall be exempted from constitutional reservations.
What Did The Government Do?
The state government had then filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the said order. The said petition provides the aggrieved party with special permission to be heard in Apex court, i.e. the Supreme Court, in appeal, against any judgment or order of any Court/tribunal in the territory of India.
Students Left In A Lurch
Three weeks later, the chaos, instead of the being resolved, has been left unattended and unconcerned by the authorities. The hopes of various students to study at the University of Mumbai and pursue degree courses are at stake. Some, who have already been admitted to the college on the basis of first merit list, are confused too due to the uncertain nature of the credibility of the first merit list.
College authorities are receiving dozens of queries from panicking students and parents every day, their cluelessness about the same is disturbing.
Many people have taken to social media to voice their concerns to the various ministers of the state and the ruling government.
https://twitter.com/Pournim33846466/status/1017402199826001920
@TawdeVinod sir how long do u think the students should wait for their college admissions? Don’t you think it’s a high time that we should move away from the reservations to purely merit base System for a better India?@PrakashJavdekar @Uni_Mumbai
— Rebeesh Raveendran (@rebeeshr) July 11, 2018
We were told three weeks ago that the hearing will be "within a week"
Mumbai University Admissions On Hold After Court Order, Thousands Of Students In Trouble https://t.co/lidtPLGWmc
— J (@Jgogoreal) July 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/g_parpillewar/status/1016994697640697856
Amidst these tweets, the famous stand-up comedian Atul Khatri also took a dig at the frozen Mumbai Admission scenario. “That time of the year in Mumbai when you thank your stars for being born in a Sindhi or Gujarati family!”, he tweeted.
After the SLP was filed, it seems as if the entire system has gone on ‘snooze’ mode until today, when the hearing is finally scheduled. With the hopes and futures of lakhs of students at stake, we wait to see if the result of the hearing brings relief for the students.
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