Delhi HC Orders Admission For 18 Students At St. Stephen's College Under Christian Quota
|The Delhi High Court ordered Delhi University (DU) to grant admission to eighteen out of nineteen students whose enrollment at St. Stephen's College under the Christian quota had been denied.
This ruling came during a hearing for a plea filed by St. Stephen's College, which sought to compel DU to accept these candidates into its undergraduate programs.
A Bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma presided over the case and determined that the eighteen Christian minority students are eligible for admission, noting that one student exceeded the permissible 5% limit set for the quota. The Court said, “Further, in this Court’s opinion, whether the litigation is by a few or all the affected students, in the eyes of law, they are just students, who are looking for a future for themselves in an educational institute, and whether they are minority or non[1]minority is of no value while applying the same formula to both. At the end of it all, they are the proud citizens of this proud country and the prestigious University and College they aspire to study in.”
The Court clarified that while Article 30(1) of the Constitution guarantees minorities the right to establish and manage educational institutions of their choice, this right is not absolute. It emphasized that even minority institutions receiving government aid must adhere to the regulatory frameworks established by the affiliated university.
The Court further added, “Nevertheless, this Court is happy that once again, the 18 students out of 19, who have approached this Court by way of the present writ petition could find the solace that they will be attending their classes from tomorrow in the College of their choice.”
Senior Advocate Romy Chacko appeared for the petitioner and Advocate Mohinder JS Rupal appeared for the Respondent.
St. Stephen's College had argued that it submitted the list of selected Christian candidates to DU by August 24. However, DU failed to activate its fee portal, preventing these students from completing their admission process, and did not list their names on its Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS) portal. The college noted that the undergraduate classes commenced on August 29, and the ongoing delays caused significant distress for the candidates involved.
Despite several reminders via email, DU did not facilitate the admissions. The university later acknowledged in court that the deadline for fee payment was set for September 30 but subsequently indicated that this deadline had been extended. Nonetheless, the college maintained that the fee portal for the selected candidates had yet to be opened.
St. Stephen's College, recognized as a Christian minority institution, had previously been granted permission by the Delhi High Court to proceed with admissions based on an evaluation that assigned 85% weightage to marks from the Common Undergraduate Entrance Test (CUET) and 15% to an interview process. The college contended that DU had failed to honor the admission of the selected Christian candidates.
The Court said, “The case ends on a positive note that 18 out of 19 students in this case have got admission in the College of their choice, thus, for the one, who has not been able to secure admission in St. Stephen College, the observation made in preceding paragraph qua other students, who could not get admission in this College, the same advice holds good. This Court wishes all the students the very best for their future whether they were able to secure admission in the College, they wanted to secure admission in or in another college of the prestigious Delhi University”
Cause Title: St. Stephen’s College v. University of Delhi, [2024:DHC:7935]
Appearance:
Petitioner: Senior Advocate Romy Chacko, alongside Advocates Kartik Venu and Akshat Singh
Respondents: Advocates Mohinder JS Rupal, Hardik Rupal, Anup Kumar, Neha Jaiswal, and Shruti Singh