NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with the Delhi High Court interim order allowing St Stephen’s College to conduct interviews for granting admission to students under the minority quota besides taking into consideration their common university entrance test (CUET) scores.
It allowed Christian minority candidates to get admission in its undergraduate programs by giving 85 percent weightage for the CUET score and 15 percent for the interview saying that interfering while the admission process is underway would ‘create more uncertainty.’
A bench of Justices A S Bopanna and P S Narasimha said any interference at this stage will create further confusion and uncertainty in the admission process.“Taking note that the impugned order is an interim order passed by the high court in a pending writ petition, at this stage, we see no reason to interfere with the high court order. However, considering the need for certainty in the matter, we request the high court to hear the parties’ submissions and dispose of the petitions as expeditiously as possible,” the bench said in its order,” the bench said.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by Delhi University and the University Grants Commission challenging the July 21 order of the high court.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad added that the varsity will adopt the marks secured in CUET alone as the sole eligibility criteria for admissions of non-minority candidates.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the varsity, sought a stay on the Delhi High Court order, contending that the selection process is still going on. He said that meritorious’ students are being left out as a result of colleges insisting on conducting interviews or having personal interactions with applicants. Mehta added, “This year, the university asked the college to admit minority students for the 50 percent reserved seats only on the basis of CUET marks. Minority institutions can definitely say they will
enroll minorities, but they cannot insist on conducting interviews like this.”
‘INTERFERENCE WILL CREATE CONFUSION IN ADMISSION’