Mumbai, Aug. 3 -- The state common entrance test (CET) cell received 6,762 applications for five-year LLB course, as compared to 7,479 applications in 2018-19 and 10,139 in 2017-18. Around 3,023 more students had taken up the state's entrance test for the course this year, compared to last year. According to the colleges, the delay in the state's admission process is to be blamed for fewer applications. "While the class 12 students get their results in May, the admission process continues till November. Why would students wait for an entire semester? They look for other courses such as BA and BCom," said Rajesh Wankhede, in-charge principal, SNDT Law School law, Juhu. The principals said that many law aspirants either choose institutes outside the state or opt for other courses instead of waiting for the admission process to be over. Daisy Alexander, principal, Agnel School of Law, Vashi, said, "Because of the delay, students prefer to take the common law admission test (CLAT) and get admission elsewhere." According to the colleges, ever since the state took over the law admissions by introducing a centralised admission process (CAP) in 2016, the fiveyear LLB admissions have taken a hit. "The law admissions begin later than all the other courses. As a result, there are fewer applicants. Many of our seats go vacant at the end of the admission process," said Rajendra Sakhare, principal, St Wilfred's College of Law, Panvel. Last year, 5,262 out of 9,892, or 53% of the seats available for the course, were left vacant. Contrastingly, only 535 out of 14,320, or 4% of three-year LLB seats were without takers. Wankhede said that the colleges are now planning to write to the state CET cell about the issue. "If the Cell doesn't have the capacity to carry out the admission process, they should let the colleges do the admissions themselves," he said. While the three-year LLB course is offered after graduation, the integrated law course is pursued after class 12....