Deadlines that extend like rubber bands.

MBA applicants to Maharashtra b-schools who had failed to submit their domicile certificates before the stipulated deadline now have a reason to smile. The Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), which conducts the common admission process has decided to allow them to submit their domicile certificates between June 20 and 23, 2011.

AM Jadhav, Systems Manager at the DTE office said that the decision to extend the deadline was taken after a meeting with the DTE Director keeping in view the high demand from affected applicants for the extension.

According to Jadhav, about 1,000 students had not furnished their domicile certificates and around 200 candidates had not submitted their ‘Non Creamy Layer Other Backward Caste’ certificates by the original deadline of May 31.

On June 3, DTE officer on special duty Dr Sunil Bhamare had told PaGaLGuY that extending the deadline was impossible and if done, the candidates that had complied with the document submissions could take DTE to the court.

But the DTE has even put up a circular (in Marathi) on its website today notifying that candidates can change their category by furnishing domicile or non-creamy layer certificates between June 20 and 23.

The DTE’s decision has showered applicants caught in the domicile imbroglio with hope of landing up in a good b-school in the state.

Yet, MBA students who had duly submitted their domicile documents on time are ferocious about the decision and think that the DTE should not have extended the deadline.

Rohan P, an MBA aspirant feels that if DTE kept extending such deadlines, there will continue to be careless candidates next year who do not comply with a stipulated process meticulously. But he also sees an opportunity to to make it work to his advantage. “After the first provisional merit list is on display on June 17, we will decide whether to jump categories depending on the ranks we have got.”

“I am firmly against any extension of the date. Were we fools slogging day and night to procure our domicile certificate before the deadline? It would be very partial and unjust for the DTE to extend the date,” comments a reader in our earlier story about the matter.