DU asks St. Stephen’s to withdraw college prospectus

University says admission done in violation of norms will be treated as null and void

St. Stephen’s College on North Campus | Photo Credit: File photo

Delhi University on Monday asked St. Stephen’s College to withdraw its prospectus for the 2022-23 session and issue a public notice declaring revised admission procedures in consonance with the new admission policy of the university.

The university added that “any admission done in violation of its norms and policies will be treated as null and void ab initio”.

DU and St. Stephen’s College are at loggerheads over the admission process. This year, DU has done away with the cut-off system for undergraduate admissions and introduced the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) to be conducted by the National Testing Agency. CUET, says the university, will provide a level playing field to all the applicants and merit shall be prepared for all applicants based on “standardised, equitable, fair, transparent and nationalised common entrance examination”.

‘Time-tested’ formula

St. Stephen’s College has announced that it will conduct an interview for all applicants who have been shortlisted from the CUET list and the admissions will be based on 85% weightage to the CUET score and 15% to the interview. The college said this admission process is “time-tested, proven and guaranteed through a landmark judgment delivered by the highest court of the land.” It added that there would be no discrimination between minority and non-minority applicants.

DU has said that since St. Stephen’s College is a minority institution, the university administration has decided that 50% of the open seats shall be filled solely on the basis of merit of CUET score. The remaining 50% seats for minority candidates shall be filled on the basis of combined merit of CUET score and interview to be conducted by the college.

No liability: DU

In his letter to St. Stephen’s College, Registrar of Delhi University Vikas Gupta wrote, “You would appreciate that adding a score based on interview to the score which has already been obtained through a standardised statistically robust procedure would introduce subjectivity in the admission process and eventually lead to discrimination, which is not desirable.” He added that the university shall not be liable for any consequential impact on the life and career of the applicants admitted to the college in violation of the admission policy”.

In reference to St. Stephen’s College saying that its admission policy had been guaranteed by a landmark judgment by the Supreme Court, the letter said that the order passed in 1992 by the Supreme Court upholding the admission procedure was in context of the admissions based on marks obtained in qualifying examinations of “different institutions with diverse standards”. “The judgment has no direct relevance in the changed facts and circumstances as the admissions are going to be done based on the merit obtained by applicants through a nationalised common entrance examination,” the university said.

The university also brought to the notice of the college another judgement passed by 11 Judges of the Constitution Bench of Supreme Court in 2002 that stated, “The admissions to aided institutions, whether awarded to minority or non-minority students, cannot be at the absolute sweet will and pleasure of the management of minority educational institutions.”

Delhi University told the college that prolonging the discussion on the matter any further shall be antithetic to the smooth and timely conduct of admissions and would unnecessarily lead to confusion and inconvenience to the candidates seeking admission, which can simply be avoided. The college was asked to take the necessary steps in this regard immediately and inform the university.