1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 7821 OF 2008 Hiteyashi Prakash Trivedi .. Petitioner Vs State of Maharashtra & Ors .. Respondent Mr. Ashish Gaikwad, Advocate for the Petitioner Mr. V.P. Malvankar, AGP for Respondent Nos. 2 and 3 Mr. R.V. Govilkar, Advocate for Respondent No.1 CORAM : J.N. PATEL & MRIDULA BHATKAR, JJ. DATE : 07th May, 2009 P.C.: 1. Heard learned counsel for the parties. Affidavit in reply filed by the Respondent No.1 which is taken on record. 2. The petitioner has approached this Court for seeking admission for second year of the four year degree engineering course (Computer Engineering / Information Technology) on the basis of having passed the three year diploma course in computer engineering conducted by respondent no. 1. 3. It is the case of the petitioner that for no fault of her, she was given 27 marks in Advanced Micro Processor Theory subject whereas she obtained Rma WP2721608070509.sxw 2 more than 86% marks in practical of the said subject. She applied for reassessment / re-verification of the marks but with negative response. Thereafter, it appears that due to the complaints received by respondent no. 1 in respect of unexpectedly less marks being given to the students, five thousand answer books in various subjects were reviewed and it was found that 250 candidates were eligible for giving benefit of change in marks including the petitioner. 4. An anxiety on the part of the petitioner is that she has not only lost one academic session but will not be able to secure admission in the next academic session which is going to commence from June, 2009 for the reasons that in the last session for qualifying examination, semester system has been introduced and as the petitioner has passed her examination from non-semester system, it will be highly improbable for her to compete with the students who will be passing from examination through semester system as they will be able to secure more marks considering the distribution of papers subject in semester system which is comparatively easy to score marks than annual examination. 5. Respondent No.1 has filed affidavit in reply and submitted that on receiving complaints from various institutions, 5000 answer books were scrutinized and out of them, 250 students got benefit in various subjects Rma WP2721608070509.sxw 3 which includes the petitioner. 6. In the aforesaid facts and circumstances, we asked the learned Assistant Government Pleader, who is appearing for respondent no. 3, as to how the petitioner can be accommodated in the academic session commencing from June 2009, by giving preference to her, as otherwise she would have been eligible for admission in the earlier academic session i.e of 2008-2009 if her papers were properly valued. 7. The learned Assistant Government Pleader, after seeking instructions from the officer of Administrative Section of Respondent No. 3, states that admission can only be considered on merits and no relaxation can be given in such cases. 8. In our view, it will be unfair to the petitioner who would otherwise have got admission during last academic session whose total number of marks after reassessment comes to 72% and would have definitely got admission in any of the college as the last candidate who was admitted to the said course had secured 60% marks and was admitted in the institution situated in Aditya College of Engineering at Beed. 9. We, therefore, dispose of this petition with liberty to the petitioner to Rma WP2721608070509.sxw 4 make a fresh application for admission for the said course which shall be considered as a fresh attempt for the purpose of admission and the petitioner may be accommodated in any of the colleges of her choice in State of Maharashtra where the last candidate who is found eligible for admission has secured marks less than the petitioner. (MRIDULA BHATKAR, J) (J.N. PATEL, J) Rma WP2721608070509.sxw