Delhi HC holds DU guilty of 'wilful disobedience' over minority admissions at St Stephen's College

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has found the DU in "wilful disobedience" of its order passed with respect to admissions of minority students in the postgraduate courses at St Stephen's College. Justice Dharmesh Sharma said Delhi University officials were "playing with the lives of students" while settling personal scores with the college management. The court directed the DU registrar and dean (admissions) to be present virtually on October 15 and explain why action should not be taken against them.

"Therefore, this court finds that the respondents are guilty of committing wilful disobedience in the nature deliberately stalling the implementation of the directions of this Court. The respondents -- Registrar, University of Delhi and the Dean Admissions of University of Delhi are directed to appear before this Court, for now, through video-conferencing on October 15, 2024 at around 2.30 pm and show-cause why they should not be punished in accordance with the law," the court said.

St Stephen's College sought contempt of court action against DU alleging the latter had not complied with order passed by the high court in April by not only allocating lesser seats in its PG courses but also not considering the list of candidates belonging to the minority Christian community for admission. The court lamented that an inordinate delay would case irreparable harm to students and observed that the DU had failed to show the steps taken by it so far to facilitate admissions of prospective students in PG courses. "Hence, unhesitatingly, this Court is of the opinion that the concerned officials of the respondent DU while settling their personal grouses with the management of the petitioner-college, are in virtually playing with the life of the students, which action or deliberate omission is neither acceptable nor sustainable in law," the court noted. It is disappointing to see academics of repute displaying such insensitivity, added Justice Sharma's judgement dated October 7.

St Stephen's College admissions

On April 22, the high court had permitted St Stephen’s College to conduct interviews for minority students seeking admission to postgraduate courses and consider their Common University Entrance Test (CUET) score for a weightage of 85 per cent. It had also asked the DU to ensure that allocation/allotment of PG seats in the college was not disproportionate. In the contempt plea, St Stephen's College argued that despite the directions, the allocation of seats was not done properly for academic year 2024-25 as DU allocated "extremely low number of seats" in comparison to the other colleges. No seats have been allocated for MSc Chemistry (Operation Research), which is in complete defiance of the earlier decision, the college claimed. It further said the list of candidates belonging to the minority Christian community was forwarded to DU but the same was not considered and, as a result, students were not given admission in various PG courses.

The DU, in response, argued that there is no quota for minority Christian students as such in the PG courses. The court noted a "stoic silence" by the DU authorities from the time the list of the selected candidates was furnished to them, shifting focus from the issue of quota to their responsibility in ensuring timely admissions. "Indeed for now, the plea of the respondents that there is no quota for minority students qua the PG programmes by the DU is valid. However, the issues highlighted by the learned counsel for the petitioner-college raise a different concern," it said. The court underlined the passage of two months and commencement of sessions for the various PG courses, thereby, putting the students at risk for not meeting the University Grants Commission teaching days requirement. The court observed that the allocation of seats in PG courses had been reduced compared to the previous years, and the DU was yet to formulate any policy or guidelines to govern the allocation/allotment of seats in PG courses in various colleges.