MU asks student to pay ₹55,000 to obtain his final year marksheet

The imposition of the penalty by the university is contrary to a 2018 university circular which states that the fine should be collected from the college and not from students.

Mumbai: The University of Mumbai has been imposing a whopping fine of ₹55,000 to hand over final-year marksheets to students enrolled before 2011, whose marksheets have been withheld due to errors on the part of the university’s affiliated colleges. The imposition of the penalty by the university is contrary to a 2018 university circular which states that the fine should be collected from the college and not from students.

Prasad Karande, director of the Board of Examination and Evaluation (BoEE), said, “There is a rule to impose the fine on colleges and it is being implemented. Imposing this fine on students when they are not at fault is a mistake. But the number of such students is small and they will be given relief.” (HT PHOTO)

The issue came to light after Ganesh Sankpal was asked to cough up ₹55,000 for his marksheet. Sankpal had dropped out of his second year BCom at Siddharth College in 2007–08 to take up a job due to his father’s illness. When it was time for him to be promoted after ten years, his company asked him to complete his graduation. Sankpal sought re-admission to the second year (as per rules) in 2019–20. In May this year, he cleared his final-year exams, but his result was reserved.

When Sankpal contacted the college, he was told to contact the university. Accordingly, he was told to apply to the examination department who would provide him the marksheet. But to regularise his expired ‘Permanent Registration Number’ (PRN), Sankpal was asked to pay ₹30,000 to the university’s eligibility department and ₹25,000 to the examination department.

“I was shocked to hear the fine amount,” said Sankpal. “Starting from the vice-chancellor, I wrote letters to everyone but nothing was done. I saw many students in a similar situation. Some of them reluctantly paid the huge fine to get their marksheets.”

When Sankpal started collecting information, he estimated that there were more than 1,000 such students. “As there was no action on my application, I finally agreed to pay the fine. Then I met senior senate member and Youth Sena (UBT) member Pradeep Sawant, who told me the college had paid the fine in 2018. Accordingly, they helped me, and finally, after a month of struggle, I got my marksheet,” he said.

Sawant said that students often did not complete the eligibility process due to the mistakes of colleges. “It is wrong that students are being penalised by withholding their results,” he said. “It is wrong that the university authorities are not aware of their own rules.”

In 2018, when a KC Law College student complained about the penalty to the Student Grievance Redressal Cell, Sawant, who was then an office-bearer of the cell, brought the matter to the notice of the university administration. “In 2018, it was decided that the university should penalise the college and not students for such mistakes by the college,” he said. “But despite the relief given to students, the universities are still penalising students. The university should change this immediately.”

Prasad Karande, director of the Board of Examination and Evaluation (BoEE), said, “There is a rule to impose the fine on colleges and it is being implemented. Imposing this fine on students when they are not at fault is a mistake. But the number of such students is small and they will be given relief.”