Eight Law Students Move High Court Over Delayed Result By GLC Mumbai; Seek State Bar Enrolment, Admission To LLM

Eight students of Government Law College, Mumbai (GLC) affiliated with Mumbai University, have filed a writ petition before the Bombay High Court praying for declaration of their final semester results.

The petition, filed through Advocate Ajinkya Udane, alleges that the petitioners' results were not declared along with the rest of the students. Another sixty-four students of the Mumbai University are facing similar issues, according to the petition.

"Inaction on part of the Respondents in declaring the missing results in time and the same has caused irreparable loss to the educational as well as employment career of the petitioners", the petition states.

Petitioners are students of the three-year LL.B. course offered by the university. They have impleaded the state, University of Mumbai, GLC, as well as the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa as the respondents.

The problem of delay in declaration of results is a perpetual problem in the Mumbai University causing many meritorious students to miss out on employment and higher education opportunities, according to the petition.

The Maharashtra Public University Act, 2016 provides that the results must be declared within 45 days of the last date of examination.

According to the petition, the sixth semester exams concluded on June 9, 2022 and the results were declared 65 days later on August 13, 2022. However, the petitioners' names were missing from the declared results, the plea states.

The petition claims that the petitioners have approached GLC as well as Mumbai University on several occasions but such efforts have borne no fruits. There has been no official communication about the release date or the reason for non-declaration of results from the university, it is said.

According to the petition, one of the petitioners could not appear for the recruitment exam for Management Trainees at Coal India Limited as the results were not declared in time. The petitioners have also had to forego opportunities for LL.M. at National Law Universities as the admission process required LL.B. results, degree, migration certificate etc.

Last date to apply for L.L.M. at NLU Delhi is September 20, 2022. Petition prays that the marksheets should be made available to the petitioners before September 20 so that they can apply for LL.M. in NLU Delhi.

"The petitioners have lost opportunity to seek and obtain admission in LLM courses offered by various foreign as well as domestic universities due to non-completion of essential formalities owing to missing results", the petition states.

The petitioners have lost employment opportunities since law firms and lawyers require enrolment in the state bar council which is not possible without final marksheets and degree, the plea states. Further, the petitioners may miss out on taking the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) to be held in November as their LL.B. final results aren't out and the registration with the state bar council takes about one month.

Inaction on the part of the respondents has resulted in violation of Fundamental Rights Guaranteed under Articles 14, 16, 19(1)(a), 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution and also caused mental trauma to the students, the plea states.

The petition prays for the BCI to be directed to ensure that the petitioners are enrolled in the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa so as to not missed the upcoming AIBE.

Further, the petition prays that the petitioners should be allowed to be admitted in the newly launched LL.M. program in the Government Law College, Mumbai.

The matter will be heard on Monday by a bench comprising of Justices S. V. Gangapurwala and R. N. Laddha.

Case title – Abhishek Vishnudev Mishra and Ors. v. State of Maharashtra and Ors.