The Delhi High Court has granted permission to St Stephen’s College and Jesus and Mary College to conduct interviews for admissions under the minority quota, in addition to considering the students’ common university entrance test (CUET) scores. The court’s decision came in response to applications by the two minority colleges, seeking to stay the Delhi University’s (DU) decision of December 8, 2022, which insisted on giving 100 percent weightage to the CUET 2023 score for admission to the minority quota.
The court’s order also addressed a petition by Sharon Ann George, who raised concerns about interviews being conducted for minority students at St Stephen’s College in addition to CUET.
Earlier, the court had ruled that St Stephen’s College had the right to conduct interviews with 15 percent weightage for minority students, but not for non-minority students. However, the DU’s Executive Committee made a decision disregarding the court’s ruling and announced that for the academic session 2023-24, admission to undergraduate programs would solely be based on CUET, even for minority seats.
As an interim measure, the court directed that the admission policy, framed by its earlier judgment, shall be followed for the academic year 2023-24. Accordingly, St Stephen’s College will adopt CUET scores with 85 percent weightage, and the college’s interview will carry 15 percent weightage for Christian minority candidates.
The court criticized the DU’s decision, stating a lack of reasoning and non-application of mind in bypassing its earlier ruling. It admitted the petitions and opined that the colleges would suffer irreparable losses without interim relief.
Last year, St Stephen’s College had filed another petition challenging DU’s request to withdraw its prospectus, which allocated 85 percent weightage to CUET and 15 percent to the college interview for unreserved seats in undergraduate courses.
The high court had earlier held that the rights accorded to a minority institution under the Constitution cannot be extended to non-minorities. It directed St Stephen’s College to give 100 percent weightage to CUET scores for admission to non-minority students but allowed the college to conduct interviews for students belonging to the minority community.
St Stephen’s College, as a minority educational institution, filed the present petition against DU’s notification, arguing that its right to select students for admission and administer the educational institution should not be interfered with or taken away.
The petition emphasized that DU’s decision contradicted the court’s previous judgment, which recognized St Stephen’s College’s right to conduct interviews for students in the minority category.
