The Bombay High Court has directed the Mumbai University (MU) to grant admission to a candidate in the LLM (master of law) course for the academic year 2024-25 under the ‘general’ category after he was allegedly denied admission. Vinit Raje, an advocate by profession, had applied for the LLM course at the MU but was allegedly disqualified from the examination process, following which he moved the high court.
Raje said he had initially applied for the LLM CET under the general category in September last year, but later applied under the Econimically Weaker Section (EWS) category after getting the EWS eligibility certificate on November 15, 2024.
He alleged that despite securing 56 marks—well above the cut-off, he was denied admission due to his alleged filing of forms in both categories. Justifying his decision to move the court, Raje said, “The Department of Law, which is supposed to teach the principles of natural justice, proportionality, non-arbitrariness, and reasonableness to the future lawyers and judges, itself has forgotten to follow them. They did not even care to communicate to me that my application was rejected.”
“I can state that, since I had a backup of my senior advocate Ishaan Patkar, I could knock on the doors of the HC in time and reserve one seat for myself.,” he added. The high court, while hearing the matter, noted that the latest cut-off marks for general category admission for the ‘Constitutional and Administrative Law’ group were 48, making Raje eligible. The bench then directed the university to complete the necessary admission formalities while refraining from addressing other legal arguments raised in the case.
“This ruling ensures that students eligible for admission are not denied their rightful seats due to procedural discrepancies and mistakes in the application category,” Raje said. When contacted, Department of Law head Rajashree Warhadi said, “Yes, this happened, but following the court’s order, the student will be given the admission; he can also attend lectures. He has agreed to accept admission under the general category now. We also have to follow procedures that are uniform for all. We cannot just take decisions according to students.”
Advocate Rui Rodrigues, representing the Mumbai University, said, “The court itself has acknowledged the error on the part of the student…The student, through his counsel, has agreed to accept admission under the general category. As directed by the court, the student will be granted admission.”
