In a stringent move, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education’s (MSBSHSE) Mumbai divisional board has withheld the results of nearly 5,000 HSC students as the 33 colleges they studied at were found to have provided them with the option of Information Technology (IT), a subject they were not authorised to. The board has initiated an inquiry against these colleges for violation and issued notices. The board is also mulling cancelling affiliation of these colleges, officials said.

These colleges did not have the permission to provide IT as a subject and yet the students applied for it for the HSC board exam. According to rules, colleges are supposed to get the students to fill in codes of subjects that the colleges are authorised to teach. However, in this case, the students filled in the code for IT even as their colleges were not authorised for the same. This has now led to a bigger problem as the board has withheld the results of nearly 5,000 students, who cannot start their admission process.