27-year-old, who topped LLB merit list, moves HC after MU denies admission

Walunj, who is categorised as OBC, emphasised that his family’s yearly income is below ₹8 lakh, qualifying him as a non-creamy layer candidate. He further states that a mistake by a clerk in the admission section, who overlooked the state certificate, led to his disqualification

Mumbai: A 27-year-old student from Ahmednagar, who secured the ninth spot in the merit list of Mumbai University (MU)’s LLB program, has filed a petition with the Bombay high court after being excluded from the LLM admission process alleging that his admission was rejected due to a technical error in the documentation review process.

27-year-old, who topped LLB merit list, moves HC after MU denies admission

Bhushan Walunj, who scored 82 out of 100 in the LLM CET exam, said that despite submitting a non-creamy layer certificate also known as Other Backward Class (OBC) certificate from both the state and central governments, his application was turned down. The grounds for rejection cited by the university were his purported lack of possession of a state-level non-creamy layer certificate.

Walunj, who is categorised as OBC, emphasised that his family’s yearly income is below ₹8 lakh, qualifying him as a non-creamy layer candidate. He further states that a mistake by a clerk in the admission section, who overlooked the state certificate, led to his disqualification.

“I had submitted non-creamy layer certificates from both the state and central government; my caste is listed at central and state levels, making me eligible for reservation. However, the clerk at the admission section assumed that I had only submitted a caste certificate and not a non-creamy layer certificate, leading to the rejection of my application,” explained Walunj.

When Walunj approached the MU administration about the same, they appointed a four-member committee to review the matter. “In the committee, MU appointed the same officers who denied my admission earlier and they are standing on the same decision,” he added.

While explaining the difference between central government and state government certificate Walunj said, “The central government’s certificate has three pages, featuring the caste certificate on the first page and the non-creamy layer certificate on the third page. Meanwhile, the state certificate is a concise one-page document. Unfortunately, the clerk in the admission section mistakenly presumed that I had solely submitted a caste certificate, overlooking the attached non-creamy layer certificate. This misunderstanding ultimately resulted in the rejection of my application.”

Despite his efforts to rectify the error through administrative channels, Walunj alleges that the university wasted his valuable time and ultimately rejected his admission. Frustrated by the lack of resolution, he decided to pursue legal action and moved to the high court on November 9.

In the recent court hearing, MU informed the court that two more rounds of LLM admissions are scheduled.

Refusing to comment on the matter the MU official said the matter is subjudised and they will present their side during the next hearing.