DEELIP INKAR FOR NSUI

FY admissions engineered: NSUI

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

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July 18: The National Students' Union of India (NSUI) has submitted a letter to the Mumbai University vice-chancellor alleging discrepancies in admissions to first year degree courses.

When the first centralised admissions list was put up on Thursday at the Fort campus, candidates were upset to find that either their seat numbers were missing, or they were admitted to the Institute of Distance Education despite having secured high percentages. Demanding an inquiry, Asif Khan, the Mumbai secretary of NSUI, alleged that some of the students have been discriminated against to protect the vested interests of certain affluent students.

Said Aziza Iqbal, a commerce topper from Panchgani College, who secured 74.83 per cent in HSC, ``My first choice was Sydenham, but I have only managed to get a seat in the night classes at St Xavier's, which was my ninth preference.'' Her father, Zafar Iqbal, added that he may file a writ challenging this admission procedure in the High Court. However, Pro-Vice Chancellor Dr Naresh Chandra told Express Newsline on Thursday that there was no fault in the admission system. ``The names of a few students were not there on the list as they had not filled the centralised admission forms properly,'' he said.

He added that first preference was given to in-house students, then to those staying in the vicinity of the desired college, and last came the open merit students. ``By July 21, we will be making a second list of students admitted, as it has come to our knowledge that certain students who had already secured seats in colleges had reapplied to the varsity for admissions,'' informed Dr Chandra. However, the NSUI said merit suffered because of the preference given to locality. It has also alleged that the reservation quota is being abused by allotting seats in colleges which have already filled their respective quotas, thereby creating excess reservation in some colleges.

check out: http://www.expressindia.com/news/ie/daily/19970719/20050713.html