Mumbai University earns Rs 4.83 crore in revaluation fees in 2016-17

Turns out students' loss was Mumbai University's gain to the tune of Rs over Rs 4.83 crore. The varsity earned the money in the way of fees collected from its students for revaluation of their answer sheets in the 2016-17, an RTI application has revealed.

The response to an RTI query filed by activist Vihar Durve also revealed that the varsity earned Rs 15,32,055 towards photocopy charges in the same academic year.

The varsity's response, however, did not furnish details of the total number of revaluation applications and the number of students that passed post-revaluation this academic year.

The number of students that made the cut post-revaluation is only expected to go up because of the mangled results that followed glitches in the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.

"Year on year, the varsity earns from revaluation and photocopy charges taken from students. Most students pass post-revaluation and, therefore, put through unnecessary wait and expenses," said Durve. As per an earlier RTI response received by Durve, more than 36 per cent of the total number of students who had applied for reevaluation between 2015 and the beginning of 2016 at the University of Mumbai passed their exams post revaluation.

Owing to the OSM mess, the varsity received over 50,000 revaluation applications in 2017. After several student protests, the fee was reduced by 50 per cent this year to Rs 250.