Admission portal keeps 30,000 law students waiting

Nearly 30,000 students who had appeared for the Law CET conducted by the state are awaiting the start of the online admission portal, which is non-functional, as the approval of many colleges is pending with the Bar Council of India. The students are left wondering as to when the academic year will start.

According to students, after the results of the Law CET were announced, they were told that the online admission process would start on August 2. However, though they had managed to log in to the portal, they were unable to make the choice of the college, as the list is empty. “The column bearing the list of colleges on the online admission portal is empty and we have not been able to opt for any college. In such a scenario we are worried about when the admission process will get underway,” said a student.

Confirming the problem, Ashok Yende, former head of law department, University of Mumbai, said that the list of colleges was awaiting approval from the Bar Council of India (BCI) and only after it gave its approval would the colleges be available for choosing. He added that the ten new colleges approved by the state government would not be allowed to participate in the online admission process, as they had not registered with the BCI by the July 26 deadline set by the council.

According to Satish Deshmukh, vice-chairman, BCI, law colleges in Maharashtra have been flouting affiliation and approval norms and hence the council had asked the Maharashtra government to postpone the admissions till the time the colleges were registered and approved by the council.

“The council is meeting on August 11 to decide the fate of the colleges that have not complied with the norms. Only after the list is finalised by the council and handed over to the Maharashtra government will the online admission start,” said Mr Deshmukh.

Doubts regarding the ten new law colleges that were approved by the state government recently being able to conduct admissions were also put to rest as Mr Deshmukh said that as the colleges had not registered with the BCI till the deadline, they would not be able to conduct admissions this year. “All the colleges that have been conducting courses till now without registering with the council are illegal and raises a question mark over the eligibility of the students who studied there,” said Mr Deshmukh.