Mumbai: Bombay high court on Monday allowed three students of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), whose admissions to Masters of Management Studies—a two-year degree programme—were cancelled for allegedly submitting false documents, to appear for the fourth and final semester examinations.Justices Riyaz Chagla and Advait Sethna passed the direction “by way of ad interim relief”, considering the examinations are “commencing from [Monday]”, without prejudice to rights and contentions of the parties and subject to the outcome of the students’ petitions. According to the petitions, the students, aged 23-24, were granted admission through the centralised admission process for 2024-26 under the children of Indian workers in Gulf countries quota. There were multiple levels of verification. Thereafter, they were included in provisional and final merit lists and granted admission upon verification of original documents. On March 6 this year, JBIMS received an email alleging falsification of documents. The petitioners were called before an internal committee of professors on March 13. The students said their admissions were cancelled on March 27 on the mere allegation that the documents were fraudulent “without identifying any document”. They urged HC to quash and set aside the March 27 communication. The judges noted that the March 27 communication stated that documents, submitted at the time of admission and after being admitted, were found to differ during investigation. It was further alleged that verification revealed documents submitted at the time of admission were fraudulent. JBIMS’s advocate, Rui Rodrigues, said the March 6 anonymous complaint was first referred to an external committee comprising a former JBIMS director, a retired CBI officer and a college principal. He said both committees’ reports state that false marksheets had been submitted to secure admission. The students’ advocates, Arvind Tiwari and Atal Dubey, saidthat they have completed all semesters but the last one, and at this stage, their admissions ought not to be cancelled. The judges also directed that JBIMS “shall forthwith hand over the identity cards as well as unblock the email ID of the petitioners to enable them to appear for the fourth semester”.
