Expectedly, they were far from happy with the settlement. ``This is not justified. We were told at the time of admission that we could change our subjects by September-end. More than a month has passed since then and we are still studying the same subjects,'' a First Year student said.

Another student complained, ``When we first asked to change our subjects, the faculty authorities maintained that either we were ineligible or that there was no room.''

The students claimed that till last year as many as 120 students were admitted in the departments of Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics. This year, although each department had only 75 students, the faculty was refusing to admit more.

The decision to allow the 30 students to change their subjects was taken after a five-day-long stir, when the authorities decided to slash the cut-off marks by five per cent. These students were earlier ineligible for admission in subjects like Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics.

This is a climbdown on part of the faculty as the authorities had all along maintained that students could not be allowed to change their subjects if a certain standard was to be maintained.

``All students cannot be clubbed into one department. Students have to be distributed among all the departments and, of course, merit has to be kept in mind,'' faculty Vice Dean S R Pandya had said. ``If all students opt for Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, what will the teachers in other departments do?''

Pandya said a meeting of various heads of departments had discussed the need to upgrade the syllabus (in other subjects) to attract more students and prevent closures.

Admitting that the stir was the result of ``a mistake on the part of the faculty, for which the faculty has paid the price'', Pandya said, ``We had not specified in the admission forms that students could not later apply for subjects that were not in their combination of primary and subsidiary subjects. From next year, we will take care and avoid such mistakes and prevent agitations.''

Vice-Chancellor of MSU Anil Kane said, ``We cannot ask the students to compromise with their choice of subjects. If there was a vacancy in the department and students had adequate merit then they should be admitted. The instruction was passed on to the dean of the faculty. We won't mind closing down some departments if it comes to that.''