NEW DELHI: St. Stephen’s College on Wednesday argued before the Delhi High Court that the “single girl child quota” imposed by Delhi University violates the constitutional right to equality. The college’s counsel contended that the quota, which reserves one seat in each programme me for a single girl child, infringes upon Articles 14, 15(3), 15(5), and 30 of the Constitution.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma questioned whether the college had previously raised objections to the policy. The college’s counsel, senior advocate Romy Chacko, responded that though they had agreed to allocate one seat per programme for a single girl child, DU is now imposing the admission of multiple students under the same quota.
“Initially, the agreement was for one student per programme, but now DU is demanding the admission of 13 students under this quota, which is a significant departure from the original agreement,” Chacko said and added that this shift violates the principle of equality.
The DU and the petitioning students opposed the college’s stance, arguing it had never challenged this policy before.