Questioning as to why first year junior college (FYJC) admissions were not concluded, although half the academic year is already over, the Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government to clarify it’s stand on the issue by Thursday.
“Half the academic year is already over and in a short time the academic year itself will come to an end,” the division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni said and asked as to why the admissions were held up for over two-and-half months.
The comments came after additional government pleader Geeta Shastri informed the court that the government was in the process of taking decision. She was responding to a petition filed by advocate Vishal Saxena, whose daughter is awaiting admission to FYJC.
Saxena has moved HC raising concern about the inordinate delay in completing FYJC admissions, suspended for over two-and-half months. Saxena filed the petition on October 26, complaining that the admission process was stalled due to the September-9 interim stay on Maratha reservation by the Supreme Court, nearly 2.32 lakh students in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), including the petitioner’s daughter, were facing an uncertain future.
In light of this, Saxena has sought directions to the government to formulate a strategy to restart the admission process at the earliest as students and their parents have already suffered much due to Covid-19 pandemic.
{{/usCountry}}In light of this, Saxena has sought directions to the government to formulate a strategy to restart the admission process at the earliest as students and their parents have already suffered much due to Covid-19 pandemic.
{{/usCountry}}On Tuesday, judges reminded the government lawyer that the petition was first heard on October 27 and later on November 9 as well, no positive response had come up from the state government. HC also questioned as to why the government was not taking any decision on the issue and directed Shastri to file a short affidavit by Thursday, clarifying the government’s stand.
During the course of hearing on the petition Shastri informed the bench that though admissions are yet to be concluded, online classes have started for aspirants. The statement was controverted by the petitioner who maintained that no such online lectures were being conducted after the Diwali vacation.