Many students allotted colleges which they never chose

Several students, who were allotted seats in the first general merit list for junior college admissions on Monday, were in for a shock as they discovered that the college they were allotted was not listed by them as an option in the online admission form.

Saurabh Maity, a student of St Paul High School in Malad, who scored 91%, was allotted a seat in Vidya Niketan College in Chincholi, a college that he had not given as a preference. Another student from the same school had scored 92.34% and was allotted a seat in Vivek Vidyalaya in Malad, a college which she had never even heard of.

“When I heard of the incident, I personally checked their forms. They have filled in every detail correctly, but still have ended up with colleges that they did not choose,” said Rajkumar Rao, principal of St Paul High School.

An official from the education department said students were supposed to fill up a maximum of 30 colleges, and in case they did not get a seat in any of their preferred colleges due to low score, then they are automatically allotted a seat in a college in their area or residential zone.

While parents of these students are now planning to move the Bombay high court, about 45,996 students secured admissions to city colleges on day two.