Maharashtra: Low marks shock Jalgaon university’s LLB students

The students sit outside the varsity

A large number of LLB students, who enrolled for both the three and five-year courses, affiliated with Kavayitri Bahinabai Chaudhari North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, were taken aback when they learnt that most of them had failed in one or more subjects. In some law colleges affiliated with the university, the pass percentage dropped drastically to less than 10 per cent, which triggered panic among students, who have raised their concerns with their respective law colleges and the university. Some working professionals from Mumbai and Thane have enrolled in law courses at this university.

Manoj Dhomane, a working professional and Thane resident, said, "I am pursuing my LLB from Jamia College of Law, Nandurbar, affiliated with Jalgaon university. The results of the 100-mark semester V examination held in December 2022 were declared on March 14. I was confident of clearing the exam and sure of securing more than the passing mark, 40, in four subjects, Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), Interpretation of Statute (IOS) and Banking and Negotiable Instrument Act. But to my surprise, I failed in CrPC and CPC, scoring 32 and 30 marks respectively. Ours is a 100-mark university paper, with no provision for any internal marking, which is seen in other universities"

"I found that out of 54 students who had appeared for the semester V exam, only three to five had cleared all papers. It is learnt that the papers were corrected online and marks were given on the basis of the number of pages written rather than the content," he alleged.

Also Read: Navi Mumbai: ‘CIDCO levying transfer premium is wrong'

Law students submitting a written letter to Dr Vinod Patil, registrar, Kavayitri Bahinabai Chaudhari North Maharashtra University Jalgaon on Friday

He continued, "I have obtained my official answer sheet from the university and will be showing it to my law college faculty. Once they go through it, I will apply for revaluation, as I am confident, that I could have easily fetched over 50 marks in each paper." Interestingly, Dhomane had secured 75 per cent during the first and second years (semesters I to IV).

Another student, Kishore Kalse, pursuing BA LLB from Godavari Law College, affiliated with Jalgaon university, said, "I had appeared for semester III and was confident of clearing all my five papers, but to my surprise, I only passed the English paper, with 54 marks, and failed in the remaining four papers."

Kalse and many students met Dr Vinod Patil, registrar, Jalgaon university, and made a written submission. The students even made a charter of demand in their letter, which include a change in the examination pattern, stating that like other universities, they should also have a 60:40 pattern or 75:25 pattern, where 75 per cent is the university exam and 25 per cent is the practical exam conducted by the college. The students have also requested the university to check if there was any technical glitch while checking the answers.

Kalse alleged, "One student had written 39 pages and secured exactly 39 marks, which means for each page he wrote, he got one mark. The content of the answer and points were not checked, which is wrong."

College, varsity react

Saood Ahmed, principal of Jamia College of Law, said, "We have written to the university requesting them to recheck the papers, as most of the students in their submission stated that they had written the paper well, but still failed in two to three papers."

Advocate Floyd Gracias

Dr Patil said, "We have just received the complaint letter from the (law) students. We will check their claims. Our director and controller of examinations will look into the complaints and after cross-checking their claims, we will be able to make a comment."

A student who cleared all semester V papers from Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University said, "In our class, the majority of students have obtained ATKTs after failing in one or more subjects. Some students were complaining that the number of pages and presentation of answers were given priority rather than the actual content"

Dr Praful Sable, the Nagpur varsity's director, examination and evaluation, said, "Our pass percentage for the three-year and five-year LLB course is 39.83 per cent and 36.24 per cent respectively. We have not received any complaints so far."

MU yet to declare results; law experts raise questions

Mumbai University (MU) is yet to declare the LLB semester V and LLM results. mid-day had reported about the delay on March 4. Vikas Shinde, president, Mumbai, Maharashtra Students Union, said, "I had written a letter to the director and controller of examination at MU on March 6, inquiring about the release date of law results. I was assured that the results would be out within a week, but they failed to keep their word. We are contemplating our next course of action."

Last year, the Maharashtra and Goa Bar Association witnessed an all-time high of over 20,000 registrations of new advocates, as compared to the usual 4,000-plus yearly registrations. Advocate Floyd Gracias, Supreme Court counsel, said, "Law is a subject, which is not always black or white and is highly interpretative and subjective. It is imperative that students of law should be required to be examined on subjective and discussion-based written answers. It is unfortunate, that in post-COVID times, on account of non-subjective answers (MCQs) the argumentative acumen of law students/young advocates is compromised."

Rajeshwar Panchal, practising advocate at Bombay High Court, said, "The MCQ pattern adopted by law colleges during the lockdown has really downgraded the quality of the law graduates... I think that unless the freshers have command over the basics of law, they can't succeed. In my opinion, the quality of the law graduates who passed in the old system, which involved 100-mark exam papers without any internal marking system, is better than the present system."