A day after it issued guidelines for the reopening of affiliated colleges, the Mumbai University faced the heat for shrugging off responsibility by asking individual colleges to make their own decisions. The Bombay University and College Teachers Union (BUCTU) wrote to Vice-Chancellor Dr Suhas Pednekar and reached out to State Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant. According to the teachers’ community, the varsity’s stand is against the state directive and puts students in danger.

The Maharashtra government approved the reopening of colleges last week with 50 per cent attendance February 15 onwards. But, universities were told to create a roadmap based on guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and in consultation with the local administrative and disaster management bodies. On Friday, the Mumbai University issued a letter, telling individual colleges to take the required nods from local bodies.