Student loses seat after college fails to update admission status

A Mumbai student had to pay the price of a mistake made by a college during the FYJC online admission process and is now left with no choice but to study at the same college, which ranked low on her preference list.

A city student had to pay the price of a mistake made by a college during the FYJC online admission process and is now left with no choice but to study at the same college, which ranked low on her preference list.

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Despite scoring 91.01%, Aneri Chavan, 15, missed out admission to the college of her choice. Chavan had secured a provisional admission to Thakur College of Science and Commerce in Kandivli – her sixth preference – in the first round of FYJC online admissions.

Though she booked her seat in the college, the college did not update her admission in their system. As a result, while her name was struck off the online admission process, her college seat was not confirmed.

According to the rules, it is the responsibility of the college to update the admission status of students allotted seats in their college, after every round of admission.

“We admit that our college staff committed such a mistake. It was a human error that must have occurred because of the frenzy of the first round of admissions,” said principal Chaitali Chakrobarty.

Chavan was not even notified about her removal from the system. Confident of securing a seat in Patkar college, Goregaon, her first option, Chavan was waiting for the second and third merit lists.

“The third list at Patkar college closed at 90.72%, so we were shocked to find that despite scoring more than the cut-off, she did not make it. She was without a seat even after the final round,’’ said Kamlakar, Chavan’s father.

“By the time we realised the mistake, it was too late.’’

Kamlakar also complained to the deputy director of education seeking action against college authorities, but the department showed them the door.

“It is the fault of the college,” said NB Chavan, deputy director of education.

Finally, Chavan was forced to secure offline admission to Thakur College of Science and Commerce, paying a fee of Rs13,000.

“It is unfair that my daughter has to pay for no fault of hers. The department should have at least conducted an inquiry into the matter,’’ Kamlakar added.