Mumbai: Bombay High Court has rapped Ramnarain Ruia College, Matunga, for admitting in June 2022 a student from the commerce stream to the three-year BSc (statistics) course despite being ineligible for it. It directed the college to pay Rs 50,000 costs to Mumbai University.

“Though the petitioner was not eligible, the petitioner was admitted for FYBSc course and he completed as many as five semesters for which the results were declared. It was only when the petitioner was in the sixth semester that the eligibility of the petitioner was verified… by the respondent-college,” said Justices Makarand Karnik and Nitin Borkar on Wednesday.

The student passed Class 12 exams in the commerce stream and applied for FYBSc. The required documents and provisional eligibility form prescribed Class 12 in science. MU’s advocate Rui Rodrigues cited the ordinance which laid down eligibility criteria of a candidate to an FYBSc course. After verifying the student’s eligibility in the sixth semester, Ruia College wrote to MU on Dec 13, 2024. MU informed it the student was not eligible for pursuing the degree course. The student moved the HC after MU refused to issue the sixth semester marksheet and graduation certificate.

The HC did not find “any error” in MU’s approach as the petitioner “was not eligible”. “Factually, however, the petitioner has been allowed to complete five semesters,” the judges said. They took note the student had performed well in five semesters. They were “persuaded” to allow him to continue with the course only so that “the petitioner’s educational career should not suffer, as there is nothing on record to indicate that there is any misrepresentation on his part. The fault, if any, lies with the respondent-college”.

The judges noted the student “has now completed the sixth semester as well”. His advocate Sanskruti Yagnik said he has secured admission for MSc. His marksheet was released following HC’s interim order. He has been given an offer letter for MSc Applied Statistics and Analytics at NMIMS deemed to be university. Therefore, the judges decided to allow the student’s petition as the “petitioner has completed the entire six semesters”.

They referred to their June 26 order, in a case where a law student was held ineligible, which directed colleges should submit eligibility forms and other documents to MU “not later than two months from the date of admission” to enable the university thereafter to process the eligibility. Colleges were directed to scrupulously follow instructions in MU’s circulars for enrolment and eligibility so that students should not suffer due to delay by university or colleges in deciding eligibility. The judges directed Ruia College “hereafter shall scrupulously follow the norms regarding verification of eligibility/non-eligibility”. They also directed MU to issue a migration certificate to the student within 3 weeks.