NEW DELHI: The Delhi University (DU) on Wednesday said the National Educational Policy recommends holding Common University Entrance Test (CUET) which has to be uniformly accepted by St. Stephen's College.
The affidavit filed by Delhi University further stated that the law is well settled that aided Minority Educational institutions and they cannot admit students under the Unreserved Category as per their own whims and fancies.
The Delhi High Court is presently examining two petitions. One was moved by Stephen's challenging the order of the Delhi University to grant admission in undergraduate courses through the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) and to withdraw the prospectus issued by the college. And second, was moved by Monika Poddar, a law student through PIL who challenged the college's decision to continue with interviews for admission to its general seats.
On Wednesday, the bench deferred the matter for July 15, after UGC counsel advocate Apoorv Kurup sought time and stated ASG Vikramjit Banerjee is down with covid and was leading them in the matter.
During the hearing, the counsel for Stephens raised questions on the credibility of the petitioner student and said that the petitioner is a law aspirant and not seeking admission in Stephens.
Senior advocate Arun Bhardwaj for the petitioner Kanika Poddar, said that when there is 50 per cent reservation then the colour of the minority has already been given. He added that the college does not require any extra selection procedure for the general.
Meanwhile, Delhi University has also supported the petition of the student and said that the college cannot be allowed to bring "subjectivity bias and discrimination" through the conduct of interviews for students belonging to the non-minority communities.
Earlier, Delhi High Court had issued notice to all respondents in both matters.
Advocate Romy Chacko appeared for Stephen College and said that DU has written a letter that we must withdraw the prospectus and give public clarification.
The bench said if your stand is that you are entitled to give 15 per cent marks for interview. "Then don't implement the DU circular right now. We will hear the matter. No consequences are falling on you till the next date of hearing. You make a stick to your stand," the Bench said.
The petitioner college has challenged the DU order to withdraw the prospectus issued by it and to grant admission through CUET. It is stated by the petitioner that they are conducting interviews of students seeking admission in the college. This practice has been for so many years and it was allowed.
On the other hand, the respondents had said that the interviews were allowed to be conducted as there was no common admission entrance. Now the CUET is there. The admission granted by the criteria adopted by the college will not be granted recognition.
The PIL of student had challenged the decision of St Stephen's college to conduct an interview round for admission to the unreserved category for the academic session 2022-23.
The petition filed through Advocate Akash Vajpai stated that taking interviews where award of marks is left to the subjective satisfaction of the selection committee gives ample room for discrimination and manipulation.
PIL stated that DU policy specifically says that admission in the general category seats in its minority colleges like St Stephen's will be done only on the basis of marks obtained in CUET while in admission on reserved seats those colleges can give 15 per cent weightage to the interview and 85 per cent weightage to the CUET score at the time of admission. It is sought that admission should be granted according to the DU's recommendations.