Mumbai varsity stokes row after Maha minister gets duplicate degree within 1 day

The members of Yuva Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) hit out at the Maharashtra higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil for misusing his post to obtain a copy of a degree certificate from Mumbai University (MU). They also slammed the university for violating the rules.

Patil is said to have approached MU on March 23 for a duplicate copy of his degree certificate in offline mode, which he got on the same day.

According to the MU circular dated April 24, 2019, “Students must submit a request for a duplicate certificate on an online basis”.

However, the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) faction alleged that Patil acquired the copy of his missing degree certificate from the university within hours by misusing his position without following the required procedure.

Also Read: Remarks on Sena’s role in Babri Masjid demolition leave Patil isolated in BJP

Yuva Sena (UBT) member Pradeep Sawant said, “Patil received the 1980-degree certificate from Siddharth College affiliated to Mumbai University in 1987. Having lost this degree certificate, he applied offline to Mumbai University on March 23 with the help of his official. His application was accepted by MU which issued him a duplicate copy of the certificate during single-day working hours. Other students need to apply online and wait at least a month to get a duplicate copy of the certificate.”

“While giving a duplicate copy of the degree certificate, MU violates their own rules of online application,” Sawant added.

Sawant and another member of the Yuva Sena (UBT) Rajan Kolambekar, wrote a letter to Ramesh Bais, the governor and chancellor of the universities in the state, requesting an investigation into the matter and demanded that Patil should resign from his post.

Meanwhile, a MU official said, the degree was given to the minister only after completing all the procedures as per the university rules and not under pressure from anyone.

“Patil’s original degree was missing. He applied to the university to obtain a duplicate of his degree certificate. After completing all the procedures as per the rules, the university awarded him a duplicate copy of the degree certificate. Since the degree is old, it is manual. It is not sent out for printing. It is prepared at the university level. These old degree formats are ready. The student’s details are written on it in handwriting. This makes the degree ready in one day. In this way, some students have been given degree certificates in a short time. There is no pressure from his (Patil’s) office,” said the official of Mumbai University.

Patil, who represents the Kothrudthe constituency in the assembly, grabbed headlines earlier this week for his controversial remarks during an interview with a news channel in which he allegedly said that workers of the Shiv Sena led by Bal Thackeray were nowhere on the scene when Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992.

Soon after, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray called it an insult to the party founder and demanded that Patil be sacked as a minister. Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, who leads the Sena’s rebel faction, also expressed his dismay and asked Patil to clarify his stand.

His statement was also criticised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). State BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that Patil’s statement was not the party’s opinion. Following the backlash, Patil on Tuesday retracted his statement.