Government rule against changing colleges challenged in Bombay HC

Mumbai: A first-year law student of Pravin Gandhi Law College at Vile Parle has challenged a state government rule that restricts students from transferring from an unaided college to a government or aided college, after completing a year in an unaided college. The petition, which came up for hearing on Wednesday in the Bombay high court, prayed that just like other professional courses, students should be allowed to shift too and it should be based on merit and not any other reason.

A division bench of justices B.R. Gavai and Riyaz Chagle was hearing a writ petition filed by Utsav Sodha, who was pursuing the five-year course from Pravin Gandhi Law College at Vile Parle. Mr Sodha had scored good marks in the first two semesters and on the basis of the same he sought admission to Government Law College. However, he was turned down on the grounds that the rules stipulate that students from unaided institutions cannot switch to aided or government institutions.

Senior advocate Satish Talekar, representing Mr Sodha, said that while the rule allows transfer of students from government or aided institutions to private unaided institutions after passing the first year examination, the same is not valid the other way round.

After hearing the contentions the court questioned the state on the reason for refusing admissions and how it could make such rules. The public prosecutor sought time to reply and said the special public prosecutor would appear in the matter. The court posted the matter for Friday.