Students 'left in the dark' ahead of online law exam at Palghar college

The exam was at St John College of Engineering. Pic/Hanif Patel

Over 400 students were allegedly forced to wait for over two hours to give an online entrance exam for LLB degree, until power supply was restored to a college in Palghar on Sunday. They claim they were told that the electricity supply to St John College of Engineering and Management, their exam centre, had stopped due to a technical problem.

The college had divided the students into two batches. The first batch was to take the exam from 10 am to 12 pm, and the second batch from 2 pm to 4 pm.

Blackout in college
Students from the first batch claimed they arrived around 9.30 am and found a blackout inside the college. Later, they added, they got to know that due to some technical problem, there was no electricity in the college. They claimed the generator was also not in a working condition.

A student said, "The exam was online; without electricity, how were we to take it? It is a very important examination and the college failed to provide a facility."

Both batches delayed
Suryapratap Singh Rajput, 32, who came from Dadra Nagar Haveli to take the exam, said, "This is carelessness. The staff there said they were trying hard to start the generator. They also kept saying the power would be back on soon. But shouldn't they have checked the generator before the exam? The director of technical education should look into the matter." Despite attempts, the college management remained unavailable for comment.

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