The University of Mumbai, one of the oldest universities in the country, found itself in the dock on Tuesday, as Maharashtra Governor and the University’s Chancellor CH Vidyasagar Rao pulled up Vice-Chancellor Dr Sanjay Deshmukh for the delay in the declaration of results and directed the latter to declare all pending results by July 31.
Taking serious cognizance of the delay in the declaration of the Mumbai University’s results this year, the Governor directed the Vice-Chancellor to submit to him a detailed report under the provisions of Section 89 of Maharashtra Public Universities Act, explaining the strategy and road map for announcement of results on time.
Of the total 477 examinations conducted by the University of Mumbai, results of only 51 examinations have been declared so far. Even out of these 51 examinations, results of only 23 examinations were declared within 30 days while results of 18 examinations were declared within 45 days. All other results have been delayed beyond the statutory limit of 45 days.
Under Section 89 of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, the University is mandated to declare results preferably in 30 days and in no case beyond 45 days. In its first of its kind directive, the Governor also asked the Vice-Chancellor to set up a war room at his level, at which the Vice-Chancellor along with other functionaries of the Universities, would monitor the progress regarding the declaration of results in real time.
Rao took the Vice-Chancellor to task over the delay in the declaration of results in presence of Additional Chief Secretary of Higher and Technical Education and the Governor’s Secretary Venugopal Reddy, at a meeting held at Raj Bhavan. The Governor had convened Tuesday’s meeting in the light of the feedback he had received from various quarters, that there had been an inordinate delay in the declaration of results by the varsity of Mumbai for the academic year 2016-17.
The Governor directed the Vice-Chancellor to use all the available human resources and infrastructure to expedite the process of declaration of results. Among other things, Rao asked Dr Deshmukh to submit a daily progress report to the Government and to the Chancellor’s Secretariat.
The Governor also directed Additional Chief Secretary, Higher and Technical Education Sitaram Kunte to depute a Government representative to monitor the progress closely in real time and to give feedback to the Government and the Chancellor’s office.
Among other things, the Governor reminded the Vice Chancellor that delay in declaration of results could hamper the career of students, which might cause anxiety and hardships to them and to their parents.
Rao went onto direct the Vice Chancellor to make all out efforts to declare all the pending results by July 31