800 SP college students to suffer for no fault of theirs?!

The fact that 800 innocent students of Sir Parshurambhau (SP) College of Pune were unable to attend the HSC exam which is of great importance, at the start of 2014, has caused disappointment as the obvious outcome.

The reason for this is that the Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education of Maharashtra abolished the partnership of the college over SP's inability to take action as given to them against a student from 2012's batch!

Pune division of the state board's secretary, Shakuntala Pawar told TOI that, "The index number (affiliation) of SP College has been cancelled as the college authorities have failed to respond to our notices to initiate action against the student as told to them."

The 800 odd students from science, arts and commerce streams of SP college of 2013 batch are being reprimanded for no apparent fault of theirs.

The action against the HSC student of SP college had to be taken for the reason that the student had allegedly presented a forged mark sheet containing high percentage.

800 SP college students denied to take exam

This lead the board to demand the college to seek police action against the student.

As many as 20 notices were sent to the authorities of the college between the months of June and November by the board, asking them to lodge a first information report (FIR) against the student, said Pawar. "However, the authorities failed to act," she added.

A showcause notice was issued to the college on November 22nd asking the reason for why the affiliation should not be abolished, Pawar said.

"We had given them 48 hours to reply but they did not. Today, we handed over a letter to the college officials informing them that their index number had been cancelled," she said.

"We have received the letter from the Pune division of the state board and have also replied to it. We are seeking legal advice over the issue." said Anant Mate, vice-president of Shikshan Prasarak Mandali which maintains the college.

Mate informed that as per the direction given to them by the state board, the college had indeed filed an FIR against the student on Wednesday.

When asked why the college chose not to respond to the notices issued earlier and why the FIR was file this late, "We were seeking legal advice," said Mate.

Arjun Sakunde, Senior inspector of the Vishrambaughwada police station said that have got the application for complaint from SP College. However an FIR is yet to be lodged. He informed that the board had cancelled the affiliation since they received no copy of FIR from the college authorities.

"The college is responsible for that. We had sent repeated reminders to the college authorities, but they did not act on time." said Pawar, when informed that the decision of the board would affect in serious terms with respect to the careers of the innocent students.