HC chides DU over admission of quota students at Stephen’s

The Delhi high court has rebuked Delhi University for stalling the admission of five students under Christian quota in postgraduate (PG) courses at St Stephens college, saying that the “insensitivity” of the varsity is playing with the life of the students amid its “personal grouses” with the college management.
The order comes at a time when the varsity and the college are already at loggerheads regarding the admission of 19 candidates selected by St Stephens College under the Christian quota in undergraduate (UG) courses.
A bench of justice Dharmesh Sharma on Monday sought the presence of DU’s registrar and the dean (admissions) to explain the reasons for its “inordinate delay” and “stoic silence” in processing the admission.
It also pulled up DU for allocating lesser seats to the college in PG courses than other colleges, saying that the officials were “guilty of committing wilful disobedience” regarding its April 22 order.In the said order, the high court had asked DU to proportionally allot PG seats to the college and frame guidelines or policy governing grant of allotment of seats to PG courses.
The court was hearing a a contempt plea filed by St Stephens College against DU in this regard. The university, however, said that there was no reservation for minority Christian students in PG courses.
Directing the officials to appear before it on October 15, the court censured DU, remarking that it was disappointing to see academics of repute displaying such insensitivity.
“There has been stoic silence on the part of the respondents (DU) since the time list of the selected candidates was furnished to them. The focus thus shifts from the quota issue to the responsibility of DU in ensuring timely admissions, considering the academic consequences for the students involved. Hence, unhesitatingly, this Court is of the opinion that the concerned officials of the respondent DU while settling their personal grouses with the management of the petitioner-college, are in virtually playing with the life of the students, which action or deliberate omission is neither acceptable nor sustainable in law,” the court observed in its 12-page order, released later on Monday.
The bench added, “The respondents (DU) are miserably failing to show cause as to what steps they have taken so far to facilitate the admission of the selected students by the petitioner-college in getting admission in PG courses. At the cost of repetition, inordinate delay on the part of the respondents shall cause irreparable harm to the selected students. It is disappointing to see academics of repute displaying such insensitivity.”
The college, represented by senior advocate Romy Chacko, in its contempt plea claimed that while it had forwarded a list of 36 candidates belonging to the minority Christain community in July to DU, five students are yet to be admitted. The delay, the senior counsel asserted, was jeopardising their academic career.
It went on to add that DU, despite the high court’s April 22 order, allotted an extremely low number of seats for the academic year 2024-25 to it as compared to other colleges and further reduced the number of seats from 37 in the academic year 2021 to 22 to 18 in the academic year 2024-25. It pointed out that the varsity also failed to allocate seats for MSc Chemistry (Operation Research).
The varsity represented by advocate Mohinder JS Rupal asserted that though there is no quota for minority Christian students in the PG course, it would draw a list of the candidates considering the overall merit and place them accordingly.