First year junior college: Second merit list for admissions to be announced on July 19

Pune-based Shikshan Prasarak Mandali, which runs educational institutions in Mumbai and other cities in Maharashtra, filed a writ petition against allowing minority colleges to surrender their vacant quota seats in the middle.

The second merit list for admissions to first-year junior colleges (FYJC), which was scheduled to be out at 11am on Monday, has been postponed to July 19. The decision comes in the backdrop of a recent order of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court while hearing litigation on the surrender of quota seats by minority colleges.

The students in Pune are worried that the delay in the admission process could cause a lag of few months. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Pune-based Shikshan Prasarak Mandali, which runs educational institutions in Mumbai and other cities in Maharashtra, filed a writ petition against allowing minority colleges to surrender their vacant quota seats in the middle. On July 12, justice ZA Haq and BP Dharmadhikari passed an order on the petition stating: “We direct the respondents [state government] to continue allotment of CAP students to non-minority institutes and after it is completed, the students, if available,shall be allotted minority institutes against such surrendered seats as an interim measure”.

WHAT STUDENTS HAVE TO DO NOW?

This means, the surrendered quota seats submitted by colleges will be returned to them. Colleges can fill these seats with quota students till the last round. If seats remain vacant even after that, they can be opened for other students. “Now the whole seat matrix will change, handling which requires some time. We are pushing the list to July 19,” said an official from the state education department.

This is the second such deferment in the admission schedule this year. The education department had earlier extended the period to secure admissions in the first round by three days owing to the heavy rain in Mumbai.

Delay worries students

The students in Pune are worried that the delay in the admission process could cause a lag of few months. “It would be very difficult to catch up with the other students. Also, many prominent colleges will have maximum of their seats filled in the first round itself,” said Sheetal Tambe, a student.

“These situations are unforeseen which cannot be avoided. All we have to do is make adequate adjustments,” said Teresa David, principal of Laxmanrao Apte Prashala, Deccan Gymkhana.

Meenakshi Raut, deputy director, education department said, “The decision has been taken due to technical issues following the Nagpur bench’s order. The entire process needs revision for which adequate time is need. This will be soon resolved and we assure that it will not affect the rest of the procedure.”