Delhi HC allows minority students to attend classes at Delhi University’s St. Stephen’s College

Latest update:Oct 28, 2024 06:55 PM IST

A bench comprising Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela was hearing the appeals filed by the college and the student against the single judge’s decision denying his admission.

Data shows that in 2019-20, DU received around Rs 600 crore from UGC and in 2023-24, it received just under Rs 800 crore. (Photo from the archive)

The Delhi High Court on Monday allowed a minority student to attend classes amid an alleged seat allocation dispute between St. Stephen’s College and Delhi University (DU).

A bench comprising Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela was hearing the appeals filed by the college and the student against the single judge’s decision denying his admission. Having allowed the student to attend classes, the court decided to no longer allocate such places.

“The fact that the single judge in the judgment has found that 18 students were eligible for admission to St. Stephen’s College and one seat is vacant in the combination selected by the appellant student, the court in the meantime allows him to attend classes until further orders,” the bench ruled .

The High Court emphasized that the college will not make any further allocation of minority quota seats until further orders. “Let it (any such empty seats) go to waste,” the bench added.

The court was hearing appeals from a single judge’s Oct. 14 ruling that 18 of the 19 students were eligible for admission to the college on their merits.

Before the single judge, the college asked DU to approve and upload the list of all minority candidates sent to it for approving their admission.

On Monday, student number 19 said in an appeal that the seat became vacant after another student withdrew from it. Therefore, the student applied for admission to the B.A. course.

DU objected to the appeals and said the college should not be allowed to “juggle” the seats allocated to it by changing the seat matrix in this manner.

Appearing before a single judge, DU said the college had allocated seats not according to the seat table but according to “its own whims and fancies”.

The college, on the other hand, maintained that the admission of 19 students was within the permitted “authorized intake” and did not exceed the permissible limit.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency – PTI feed)