‘MU IS DENYING CONCESSION TO SOME RESERVED CLASSES’

Some students and academicians have said that the University of Mumbai (MU) is flouting its own rules and denying concession in re-evaluation fees to other backward class (OBC) and special backward class (SBC) students, even as students from other reserved categories continue to enjoy it.

According to a vice-chancellor directive (VCD) issued in 2010, the students are required to pay Rs 500 if they wish to get an exam paper rechecked, and Rs 100 to get a photocopy of the answer sheet. However, students from the reserved categories are required to pay only half the amount. A new VCD issued last year prescribed no change in the fees.

However, the university's application form for re-evaluation mentions only Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), Denotified Tribe (DT), Notified Tribe (NT) and Economically Backward Class (EBC), as categories, under which students will be eligible for the concession — excluding OBC and SBC from the list. The revelation comes at a time when a large number students — almost one third — who are dissatisfied with the university's assessment of papers, seek recourse through re-evaluation, which remains an important source of income for the university. Deepak Wasave, officiating controller of examination at MU, justified the exclusion by saying, "OBC and SBC are not considered as reserved categories."

"If they can avail of the reservation at the time of admission, they should be considered during examinations as well," said Padma Deshmukh, former controller of examination and professor at CHM College in Ulhasna