Bombay HC relief to MBA aspirants; asks state to be reasonable in changing eligibility

MUMBAI: In a relief to students seeking admissions to postgraduate management studies for 2020-21, Bombay high court has stayed implementation of an “arbitrary” Maharashtra government Circular which had declared that that results of several examinations including ATMA, XAT, GMAT entrance tests would not be a valid eligibility criteria for admissions to the MBA and MMS courses, and only the Maharashtra State common entrance test (CET) would be considered.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni said the state while taking decisions regarding education admissions should be “reasonable and nature which would not adversely affect the candidates by any sudden change in the admission criteria.” The change in eligibility could have been notified by the state “well in advance’’ said the HC.
The HC held that the circular issued on March 16, 2020, may operate from the next academic year 2021-22 and directed state to consider eligibility of three students for admission on the basis of ATMA, XAT (XLRI admission test Xavier aptitude test) , MAT(management Aptitude Test), GMAT (Graduate management aptitude test) examinations for the admission process being undertaken for the current academic year 2020-21.
Three students had petitioned the HC against enforcement of the state circular on grounds of right to equality. They had appeared for the AIMS Test for Management Admission (ATMA) held on July 6. Their counsel Sachin Dhakephalkar had submitted that unless set aside, their future prospects would stand affected. They said they had appeared under the assumption that the result would be considered valid for admissions to MMS/MBA courses as was previously considered by the state when students appeared for ATMA, XAT, MAT, GMAT.
Besides, the students said the state MS-CET was conducted on March 14, even before the circular was issued, hence not only did they not have adequate notice about the new policy but would have been unable to take the state CET.
Rui Rodrigues, CET counsel and B V Samant counsel for State said the circular was justified and reasonable, but agreed that the state CET was held before its issuance.
The HC held that the “it was certainly arbitrary for the State Government to notify such change of the admission criteria after it held the MS-CET on 14-15 March 2020.’’ The consequence of the state action “is quite far reaching…harsh and drastic,’’ said the HC.
The HC said, “petitioners and such similarly placed students never in the wildest of their imagination thought that they would be rendered ineligible for the MMS/MBA courses having decided not to appear for MS-CET and that this would prove fatal to their prospect of securing an admission in the 15% seats…’’