New Delhi, April 27 () The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice on a plea filed by St Stephen’s College contesting a Delhi University (DU) notification regarding admission of undergraduate and graduate students under the minority quota, purely based on the results of the Common University Entrance Test for academic year 2023.
A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad sought responses of DU and the University Grants Commission and scheduled a hearing for May 24.
The plea has been filed in opposition to a recent decision by the DU that stated admission to 50 per cent of the Christian quota seats would only be based on CUET scores, with no interviews and the addition of 15 per cent marks for interviews being allowed in the academic session of 2023.
The plea makes reference to a High Court ruling from September 12, 2022, which stated that while St Stephens College is still allowed to conduct interviews in addition to the CUET for the admission of students from minority communities, it is not allowed to create a policy that compels non-minority communities to do the same.
“Therefore, the right of the petitioner college to conduct interviews and accord to them 15 per cent weightage for the purposes of admitting students does not extend to non-minority students, and solely pertains to its minority students,” the court had said.
In light of this context, the plea makes the case that the right to select students for admission is the core of the right to establish and administer the educational institution which cannot be interfered with or taken away.
The plea challenges the decision of DU’s Executive Council dated December 8, 2022 and notification issued on December 30, 2022, as being ultra vires and unconstitutional.
A declaration is also sought that the decision of DU insisting on 100 per cent weightage for CUET score for admission to minority quota is against Article 30 of the Constitution.
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