NEW DELHI: The Staff Association St Stephen’s College on Monday alleged that there were discrepancies in the cut-off list by pointing out the steep increase in the cut-off for two reserved categories and a huge decline for another.
“While we can understand drop in cut-offs for CNI (Church of North India) and CNID (Church of North India (Delhi Diocese), as enough candidates are not available in these categories, it is difficult to understand the decrease in cut-offs for COTH (Christian (Others), where plenty of candidates are available. In some cases, the decrease is as much as 10 per cent (as in Maths Honours,” Staff Association President Nandita Narain said.
She questioned the basis for the steep increase in cut-offs for CST (Christian (Scheduled Tribe) and CPH Christian (Physically Handicapped) categories. “In some cases, it is as much 11 per cent for CST like in BA Programme and 20 per cent for CPH in English Honours,” she said.
“..The cut-off for a subcategory of applicants cannot be more than the cut off for the category. For example, every CST or CPH student is also a Christian, falling under the same Churches as in COTH. Hence such a student cannot be denied an interview call if he/she qualifies for the COTH cut-off.”
“Doing so would amount to discrimination against a bonafide Christian simply because he/she belongs to a Scheduled Tribe or is Physically Challenged, which surely cannot be our policy or intention. Hence, we have always taken care that the CST or CPH cut-off is not higher than that for COTH...,” she explained.
She further said the method of fixing the cut-off as well the final category-wise list of students to be called for the interview should be transparent and available for public scrutiny. “Till 2015, it was the HODs who would finalise the cut-offs, and the entire interview list was put up on the notice board and, since the time it became operational, the College website. We need to go back to those practices to ensure transparency and accountability, which would also provide checks and balances in case of inadvertent errors.
Admission grievances to be addressed
The University of Delhi that issued its first cut-off list for undergraduate courses on June 28 said that the pending grievances pertaining to the first round of admissions would be addressed till Tuesday.
OSD-Admissions Sukanta Dutta confirmed that the admissions portal will remain open till 7 p.m. for colleges to process and admit pending cases.
In letters received by college principals, DSW Rajeev Gupta said that as per the requests received from Andhra Pradesh Board, admissions must be provided only on the basis of marks for applicants and not on the basis of grades.