Mumbai University denies affiliation to 30 law colleges, ahead of admissions | Mumbai News
Mumbai: Days before the commencement of the centralised admission process (CAP) for law courses, Mumbai University has denied affiliation to 30 law colleges. It has around 110 affiliated law colleges.The decision to withhold affiliation certificates, which could keep the colleges out of the state-conducted CAP rounds, was taken following recommendations by local inspection committees. The committees found that the colleges failed to appoint regular principals and adequate teaching staff, and other essential infrastructure required under university and Bar Council of India norms.The colleges were granted conditional affiliation even last year and were expected to fix the deficiencies. Since the colleges failed to fulfil the norms, the university declined to renew their affiliation for the current academic year. The move is expected to reduce the total intake for three-year and five-year law programmes by around 2,000 seats, said the students’ organisation. The last day to apply for three-year LLB is July 8. Over 50,000 students have already registered for the process.A university official said that they constituted inspection committees to visit law colleges early this year. Based on the reports submitted by these committees, affiliation certificates were not granted to colleges that did not have a regular principal, adequate teaching faculty, and other essential infrastructure in place, added the official.The university classified the colleges in three categories based on the faculty strength and administrative compliance. Newly established institutions were placed in Category A, while Category B comprised established colleges with university-approved principals and faculty, or those that initiated recruitment by issuing advertisements. Category C included older colleges operating without approved principals or the prescribed faculty strength and that had not begun the recruitment process. While colleges in Categories A and B were granted affiliation, those in Category C were denied affiliation certificates, said sources.Prahar Vidyarthi Sanghatana, a students’ organisation, alleged that the university seemed to have adopted a selective approach. “With the CAP scheduled to begin shortly, students who qualified through the Common Entrance Test (CET) could now face reduced choices and increased competition for the remaining seats. No law college in Mumbai has a fully approved faculty strength, but the action seems to be targeting select institutions,” alleged the organisation’s president, Manoj Tekade. He said the university should have instead provided a transition period or granted temporary affiliation instead.
