Delhi High Court Stays JNU Notifications on Ph.D. Course Eligibility
- The Delhi High Court has put JNU Ph.D. admission notification on hold after a plea made by 10 students of the university.
- The HC has issued a notice to UGC and JNU seeking their response as to why the notification does not comply with UGC norms.
On November 15, 2017, the High Court of Delhi put on hold two notifications issued by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) that laid down the eligibility criteria for the admission to Ph.D. courses. The court was hearing a plea filed by 10 JNU students challenging the Ph.D. notifications. According to the petitioners, the varsity, in its notification for Ph.D. courses, mentioned M.Phil degree as the major criterion for seeking admission.
Justice Indermeet Kaur issued a notice to the University Grants Commission and JNU and sought their response on the students’ plea. The court observed that the varsity had violated the admission norms. The court posted the matter for next hearing on February 26, 2018. The counsel representing JNU did not oppose the stay of notifications.
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The students, represented by advocates Govind Jee and Prasanth Bhushan, have claimed that the notifications were purely based on UGC regulations of 2016, which came into effect in May 2016 after the admission process commenced in February 2016. During the admission process, the varsity followed UGC Regulations (2009) for the admission to Ph.D. courses.
The students claimed that they were eligible for the admission to the Ph.D. course under the UGC Regulations 2016. According to admission norms, master’s degree is the minimum criterion for seeking admission to the Ph.D. course. Adding further, the students said that they had already submitted their synopsis for the Ph.D. course. Finally, the students urged the Delhi HC to direct JNU to permit them to continue with the course.
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The petitioners also sought the court to quash notifications of September 21 and September 25, 2017, on the ground that they were prepared and issued arbitrarily with mala fide intentions.