Mumbai University set to get 24 new colleges, 10 to teach law

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government approved 61 new colleges in the state, including 24 under the University of Mumbai (MU). Of the MU colleges, 10 will teach law.

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government approved 61 new colleges in the state, including 24 under the University of Mumbai (MU). Of the MU colleges, 10 will teach law. The colleges can begin admissions to the courses this academic year.

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As per norms, the proposals for new colleges are required to be approved before June 15. However, the government decided to extend the deadline till July 31 at a recent cabinet meeting, as it needed more time to scrutinise and verify the proposals.

The approvals are for courses that have a lot of demand. Of the 11 approved law colleges, four each will come up in Mumbai and Thane, while Palghar will get two and Navi Mumbai, one college. There will be seven new night colleges that will cater to working people who want to enrol for a degree course.

Colleges said they have been waiting for the approval for the past two years. “We are excited that it has finally come through. Law is a much sought-after course these days and students will have more options during admissions this year onwards,” said Zaheer Kazi, president of Anjuman-I-Islam group of institutes which will start the law college in the main campus near Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. He added that with law admissions yet to start in the state, the institute hopes to begin classes at the new institute this year.

Over the past two years, the state has approved just one degree college, though it received 298 applications as applicants did not fulfil conditions such as availability of non-agriculture land for construction. In 2015-16, the state education minister decided not to grant permission to any new college owing to thousands of seats that go vacant every year.