Sudents deprived of Ph D admission due to sudden change in schedule

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

A group of students who were deprived of Ph D admission in Hindi subject due to a sudden change in the schedule of the research proposal presentation before the Research and Recognition Committee (RRC) of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (Bamu) filed a petition in the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court.

Following the petition, the bench comprising Justice Mangesh Patil and Justice Y G Khobragade recently issued directives to serve notices to Bamu, UGC and the Department of Higher Technical Education. The respondents have to file their replies by March 20.

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As per the petition filed by Gopal Khopde from Ambad and three other students (Latur and Ahmednagar) through adv Shirish Kamble, the university administration published an advertisement on July 27, 2024, regarding the registration and entrance examination for admission to Ph D in the financial year 2024-25. The petitioners applied for admission. They received confirmation text message and e-mail from university after the registration and fees payment.

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Sudden change in schedule

The university announced the schedule on 17 January 2025 for eligible students to present their proposal before the ‘RRC from 20 to 25 February 2025. However, the university suddenly changed the schedule to 27 January and announced a revised schedule for presentation from 10 to 14 February. However, the petitioners were not informed about the revised schedule. As a result, the students were unable to present their proposal before the RRC as per the revised schedule. The petitioners applied on 17, 20 and 22 February 2025 to avoid being denied admission, but the university did not take cognizance of it.

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Knocked doors of court

The petitioners requested the court to decide on their applications and order the respondents to announce the revised schedule, giving equal opportunity to them to give a presentation before the RRC. They also requested the court to issue orders to suspend the admission process until the outcome of the petition.