Mumbai University’s law exam chaos sparks outcry

Tensions peaked as yet another controversy involving Mumbai University erupted this month—the last-minute change in exam dates. File pic

Questions are once again being raised by law students, college faculty and student unions regarding the seriousness with which Mumbai University (MU) conducts law examinations. A day after thousands of LLB SEM 1 students appeared for the paper on labour law and industrial relations, they discovered that they discovered that almost the entire question paper followed the old syllabus instead of the changed syllabus, and repealed laws as notified by MU in June 2023.

A faculty of law, requesting anonymity said, "While the questions asked on strikes in Industrial Dispute Act, 1947, is not only out of syllabus but the said act does not even exist, in the given nomenclature, as the Industrial Dispute Act, is codified under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020. This also means that the MU paper setters have not considered the revised syllabus and the amended laws in the country, which the students were appraised and studied too."

An article by mid-day on December 20, 2023, ‘First-year law students in a quandary over labour law', highlighted the concerns of LLB course students at Mumbai University. With barely a month before their examinations, students were worried about the lack of a textbook for the subject Labour Law and Industrial Relations-Code 1.

Students could lose marks

On January 17 at 2.30 pm, students were seated, anticipating the Labour Law and Industrial Relations-Code 1 paper they had all prepared for, but instead, a gaffe was unearthed. The questions were alien to the students; they pertained to ‘The Industrial Disputes Act 1947', while students had prepared for ‘Industries Code 2020.' Both legislations are related to the same topic but were drafted in two different eras. This is just one example, but there are many more. Students are poised to lose marks. When intimated to the college authorities, they quickly relayed the message to Mumbai University.

Meanwhile, tensions peaked as another controversy erupted - the last-minute change in exam dates. Torts, scheduled for January 19, 2024, interchanged with Contracts, scheduled for January 22. This added another layer of chaos to an already chaotic situation.

Callous attitude of MU

"The scene was not limited to a particular law college in the city but was recreated even in other law colleges affiliated with MU. The callous attitude of the university and the disregard it holds for students is appalling," said the students who preferred not to be named.

Students feel let down

"Our college authorities told us to write whatever we knew, and they promised to sort it out with the university later. It was really frustrating because our college is among the well-known law colleges in Mumbai. We trusted our college to provide us with the right guidance, and their negligence in ensuring that we were prepared for the exam has left us feeling let down and abandoned."

"After the exam, we received an email from MU saying that the paper was authentic, even though it contradicted the syllabus that was officially posted on the university's website. This whole situation caused a lot of mental and emotional distress for us students," the disappointed students added.

‘Re-examination needed'

"It is least expected that the law teachers must be updated with the syllabus, leaving apart the recent judgments and case studies. Such acts of teachers/MU authorities put the entire legal education to shame. It is highly imperative to conduct the labour examination with the new syllabus question paper at the earliest," a law faculty associated with a law college affiliated with MU demanded.

While the varsity sets the question papers for the LLM SEM 1 examination from SEM 1 to SEM VI, the papers are checked internally by respective law colleges for SEM 1 to IV. Faculty experts say that it is high time the university changed this practice in the larger interest of students. Colleges may be overlooking lapses in the said question papers while correcting in-house papers, a fact that cannot be ignored.

"The irony is that most of the law colleges, including aided and unaided colleges, do not have full-time faculties, and the situation is similar in Mumbai University, where most of the posts are handled by visiting faculty, instead of permanent staff, who can be held accountable for such lapses, which is not the case with visiting faculty," pointed out an MU official, who did not wish to be named.

Refuting MU's response to the students' concern, a law college principal said, "All arguments are valid arguments, but all valid arguments are not true. The question paper and the syllabus, though, are not the same, and instead of conducting re-examinations, the students who appeared for the non-syllabus questions should be provided with equal marks, as per the MU norms, for attempting a non-syllabus question." "Filling the vacant positions in MU at the earliest will be the only solution to tackle such a situation in the future, as such incidents would only adversely impact the students, for no fault of theirs," the principal said.

Displeasure expressed

Dr Vijay Namdeo Pawar, founder president of Maharashtra Union of Secular Teachers (MUST) and member of the senate, Mumbai University, expressed his displeasure about the students' plight and said, "Be it the recent LLB SEM 1, or the declaration of results for TY BA and TY BCom, where students were shocked to learn that their answer papers were either completely unchecked or the papers not checked properly under the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. We will soon be meeting the Pro Vice Chancellor of the University and State education minister to discuss the issues."

On the other side

When contacted, a MU spokesperson said, "Complaints were received from the students through some colleges to the university regarding the issue. Appropriate decisions will be taken after verifying this complaint."

Jan 17
Day LLB Sem 1 first exam paper was held