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Latest News |
| 22nd
January 2010 / Times of India / Mumbai Edition |
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Same firm to conduct online admissions
again
Govt Yet To Float Tenders Inviting New Companies
Mumbai: A year ago, the city saw widespread chaos over
online admissions to junior college as the system was
plagued by technical glitches. Students running from pillar
to post in an attempt to get an answer to their grievances
were a common sight. And this year, too, the government
seems to be in favour of selecting the Maharashtra Knowledge
Corporation Limited (MKCL) the same company that developed
the software for online admissions last yearfor the job.
At a state government meeting last week, some officials
suggested that the government look for another company
to conduct online admissions. But they were told by a
senior bureaucrat in the education department that if
any other company was to be selected, the government would
need to float tenders for the job, whereas there would
be no need to do so for MKCL. According to sources present
at the meeting, the bureaucrat said: It is too late to
start floating tenders.
Last year MKCL was selected for online admissions without
any tenders being floated. This is because MKCL is a company
promoted by the higher and technical education department
of the government as well as by universities in the state,
said an official from MKCL. State education minister Balasaheb
Thorat, however, said the government has yet to decide
on whom to hire, adding that all decisions over admissions
would be taken in the next eight days. But he said that
the government had not yet floated any tenders for the
job of conducting online admissions. He added that in
the case of MKCL, there was no need for tenders.
But some are skeptical of the government’s bias
towards MKCL. Why should tenders not be floated for MKCL
too While we have been told repeatedly that MKCL is a
company promoted by the government, we have not seen any
evidence of this on paper. There is no clarity on what
kind of organisation MKCL actually is. Many of us have
been asked to buy shares in MKCL, said a source who was
present at the meeting.
MKCL says it has been working towards eliminating the
glitches in the system. Last year, there was very little
time to work on the system. The plans for online admissions
took shape in April, and we had to deliver them in June,
said an MKCL official.
Last Years E-Glitches
The server crashed on the first day of online admissions,
after which a political party ransacked the MKCL office
Students were allotted the same college in the first and
second merit list Those with less marks were allotted
a seat in a college where a student with higher marks
failed to get in High scorers were allotted night colleges
or obscure institutions. Those who let go of the college
allotted to them in the second list were told they were
ineligible for the third list A number of English-medium
students were allotted Marathi-medium colleges.
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