: Delhi University’s Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College can start admissions as a minority institution as the High Court on Monday observed that “benefit of so many students cannot be put in limbo because the teachers have challenged the minority tag granted to the college”.
A Bench of Justice G. S. Sistani ordered that the college start admissions as a minority institution while the petition filed by the teachers is kept pending.
The teachers have challenged the grant of minority status to the college on the grounds that it will affect the interests of SC/ST and OBC students. Khalsa College was granted the status of a “minority educational institution” in 2011 by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI).
“Please tell me how your status will be affected if students are admitted? You (teachers) have to show how your working condition would be affected by grant of change of status. What has it got to do with the admissions? No life of any student can be put into uncertainty,” said the Bench.
It also held that any appointments made would be subject to the final outcome of the petition.
Challenging the college’s admission process as a minority institution, advocate Anil Nauriya told the Bench that Khalsa College was set up as an institution of general and not minority character. “The whole complexion of the college would be disturbed if it is now given this status,” he argued.
Centre’s counsel Anil Soni said it supported the decision of (NCMEI) as it had declared the college a minority institution based on its establishment and administration by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.
Teachers’ right
The Bench remarked, “You are the teachers of the college. Do you think the teachers have a better right than the university? The university could have challenged the grant of minority tag and asked for admissions to be put on hold. Or you should come by way of a PIL, but the teachers cannot ask for admissions to be put on hold only because the minority status will affect their working conditions.”
On Friday, the court had said that the college could start counselling, but not admissions.
