The Bombay High Court has directed Mumbai University to issue marksheets and degree certificates to a student who completed a three-year BSc computer science course after finding that SIES College, Sion, admitted her despite an eligibility issue. The court also imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on the college, payable to the university.
A division bench of Justices Riyaz Chagla and Firdosh Pooniwalla quashed and set aside letters issued by Mumbai University and the college that had declared Shubhi Rai ineligible and cancelled her admission. The judges said Rai’s educational career should not suffer because of an error by the institution, observing that “we do not find fault with the petitioner but the fault lies at the door of the college”.
Rai had completed her Higher Secondary Certificate examination in the commerce stream with mathematics and statistics. She initially applied for admission to the BSc Information Technology programme and was advised that she was also eligible for BSc Computer Science. The eligibility issue emerged when she was seeking admission to the third year, when she was informed that the course required an HSC science background with mathematics or statistics.
The court had granted Rai interim relief in June 2025, allowing her to attend classes and appear for examinations while the dispute was pending. She subsequently completed the three-year course. The latest order directs Mumbai University to issue the relevant marksheets and degree certificates.
Mumbai University’s advocate, Rui Rodrigues, told the court that the eligibility criteria were prescribed under a university ordinance. The university also submitted that the college had failed to follow a September 2023 circular setting out the procedure for enrolment and eligibility for the 2023-24 academic year in line with University Grants Commission guidelines.
The college’s advocate, Arvind Kothari, argued that its Board of Studies and Academic Council had approved treating commerce students with mathematics as eligible for admission on a par with HSC science students. The college described the decision as a bona fide view taken in exercise of its autonomy and said it had placed the position before Mumbai University.
The bench rejected that basis for the admission. It held that approval by the college’s academic bodies could not override the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, university statutes, ordinances or guidelines issued by the UGC. The judges also noted that autonomous status provides academic and administrative autonomy subject to the governing legal and regulatory framework.
The court further recorded that Rai’s admission had been made provisional, that the college submitted her HSC marksheet to Mumbai University belatedly, and that it had not explained why an allegedly ineligible student was admitted. Rai’s advocate, Sunil Mishra, said she had not been informed about the eligibility requirement at the time of admission.
The order places responsibility for eligibility checks at the point of admission on the institution enrolling the student. It also clarifies that a student who completes a course should not bear the academic consequences of an institutional failure to apply university rules, particularly where the student was not found responsible for the disputed admission.
Mumbai University has been directed to issue Rai’s marksheets and degree certificates, while SIES College must pay the Rs 50,000 cost ordered by the court.
