St. Stephen’s College on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that admitting a student under the single girl child quota fixed by Delhi University (DU) is a violation of the right to equality before law.
Senior advocate Romy Chako, the counsel for the college, submitted that the quota was also ultra vires vis-a-vis Article 30 of the Constitution, which deals with the rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.
The case is being heard by the High Court as six students had approached it after the college put on hold the admission of 22 students terming them “extra allocations”.
Twelve of the students were allotted seats by the university under the single girl child quota, which was introduced by DU this year.
One seat in each programme of every college is reserved under the supernumerary quota for a single girl child in the current academic session.
To avail of the quota, the parent or guardian (in case the parents are deceased) will have to declare that the girl child is the only child of her parents, it said.
‘No statutory backing’
The college, however, contended that the university was trying to impose quotas against minority institutions.
“All these quotas imposed on us have no statutory backing. Today, you are trying to impose something which is beyond the university’s bulletin,” said Mr. Chacko.
The university’s counsel said there are seven to eight minority colleges under it, and only one of them has an issue while others had no problem with respect to the allocation of seats.
The counsel said the university’s bulletin was not challenged by the college at any point in time.
‘Seat matrix amended’
The DU’s counsel also said the college ought not to have played with the career of the six petitioner students by refusing them admission when their names were already released by the university in the selected candidates for admission to the college.
The university, in its affidavit to the High Court, also stated that the college has amended its seat matrix to allocate additional seats to Christian students.
This came a day after the college released a list of Christian students who have been offered admission.
The six petitioner students had contended that despite being allocated seats by the university with the college, their admission process was not completed within the stipulated time frame.
Last week, a two-judge High Court Bench had barred the six students from attending classes till further orders, overturning a single-judge Bench order that allowed them to attend classes. The High Court will continue hearing the case on Thursday.
Published - September 05, 2024 01:15 am IST
