Mumbai university revokes circular, marks of law students from August 2020 valid

Less than a month after the University of Mumbai (MU) released circular nullifying results of law students that were based on average scores and internal assessment last year, the MU Board of Examination and Evaluation (BoEE) on Wednesday released another circular reinstating the old marks

Less than a month after the University of Mumbai (MU) released circular nullifying results of law students that were based on average scores and internal assessment last year, the MU Board of Examination and Evaluation (BoEE) on Wednesday released another circular reinstating the old marks.

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The university had announced to scrap the results of students from three year and five-year law courses in August 2020, based on a Bar Council of India (BCI) directive, making end of semester exams mandatory in order to promote students.

“Since we were promoted last year based on an average score of previous semesters and our performance in the current semester, the university had called for the scrapping of our results. They asked all colleges to conduct assignment-based evaluation (ABE) and announce results accordingly. The HC on Wednesday clarified that the BCI directives don’t apply to results announced before the directives were released,” said Vikram Pandey, a final year law student.

Last year, due to increasing Covid-19 cases and the eventual lockdown, all university students (except final semester students) were promoted to the next semester based on their performance in that semester. Results for semesters 2 and 4 of the three-year LLB course and semesters 2, 4, 6 and 8 of the five-year LLB course we’re announced based on the average scores of previous semesters and internal assessment marks. These results were announced in August 2020 and several of these students have already cleared the semester after that and are currently in their final semester of the course.

On July 5 this year, law students were in for a shock after the university released a circular nullifying the August 2020 results and directed colleges to hold ABE as per a set schedule, in order to declare results once again. Students were asked to submit two assignments in each subject for 50 marks, and the scores obtained would have been extrapolated to the scale of 60 or 100, whichever applicable. Students raised this matter in the Bombay HC and a final decision came through on Wednesday.

“The university announced results of summer 2020 examination, in accordance with the University Grants Commission (UGC) directives of giving marks based on previous semesters and internal assessment. The BCI in its circular from July 9 made the end of term exams mandatory, forcing the university to scrap August 2020 results,” said a statement released by the BoEE director, Vinod Patil. He added that as per the HC decision, the ABE schedule announced on July 5 stands withdrawn and results of intermediate semesters declared in the first half of 2020 announced in August 2020 stand restored.

“This decision restores our faith in the judiciary. Expecting students to put their studies for the current semester on hold and complete assignments for the last academic year would have been unfair. We are happy the judiciary understood our plight,” said another student.