Law students oppose MU's LL.M. exam notice

Mumbai: The Mumbai University (MU) on Wednesday declared the fifth list for the first-year LL.M. course which is set to commence on January 17. The announcement, which implies that law students have only seven days to prepare for one of the most important examinations of their career, has sent them into a tizzy. Just last week, the varsity released the fourth list which had around 60 students, giving them 20 days to prepare for the examination.

Law students are against the decision to conduct the examination without completing the required number of teaching days. The University Grants Commission (UGC) warrants completion of 90 days of teaching in each semester before conducting examinations.

A law student said, “The varsity has clearly breached UGC rules but more worryingly, it is playing with students’ lives. The syllabus which is supposed to be completed in 90 days is now expected to be covered in 20 or seven days! It is not possible because LL.M examinations are very tough,” While the students’ group has escalated the matter to MU officials, it has only received verbal assurance. Sachin Pawar, president, Students’ Law Council, said, “We met the registrar of MU, Dinesh Kamble, and he has given us an assurance that something will be done. However, if nothing is done in one or two days, we will carry out a protest.”

MU officials said that the reason for such short notice before the examination is delayed results which have eaten into “between time”. A MU official said, “Technically there has to be 90 days’ time for students and professors to complete the syllabus. However, the last admission list itself was released in the last week of December, 2017, due to which we scheduled the exams on January 17.”