NEW DELHI: St. Stephen’s College on Monday approached the Delhi High Court against a single judge’s order of granting admission to seven students based on Delhi University’s seat allocation system.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela agreed to hear the matter on Tuesday.
The dispute arose from Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma’s decision last Friday, ordering St. Stephen’s College to admit the petitioning students according to the university’s seat allocation policy used in the previous academic year.
Since the university’s system had not been declared invalid, the college must ensure the students are admitted and allowed to attend classes upon completing the necessary formalities, the court emphasised.
The case involves two separate petitions filed by the students, who argued that their admissions were not finalised despite being allocated seats by DU for various courses at St. Stephen’s. DU backed their claims, while the college resisted, arguing that it was not obliged to admit all students through the university’s standard seat allocation system due to its own admission limits.
Initially, the single-judge bench granted provisional admission to six students, noting their merit and the uncertainty surrounding their admissions. However, St. Stephen’s appealed this decision, resulting in the division bench barring the students from attending classes until the case’s final resolution.
A seventh student later joined the petition, with all petitioners seeking admission under DU’s “single girl child” quota.