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The Supreme Court ruled that the temporary relief requested by St. Stephen's College had been rejected and that it was not permitted to suspend the High Court of Delhi's decision. Admissions will be made entirely on the basis of CUET merit.
According to the Delhi High Court's decision, St. Stephen's College was required to revoke its undergraduate admissions prospectus and adhere to the standards established by Delhi University. For the 2022–2023 academic year, DU will only admit students based exclusively on the results of the Common University Entrance Test.
| DU First Merit List 2022 |
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Highlights of SC Hearing on DU Admission 2022
- The court took up the matter at 12: 45 PM
- Primarily the SC discussed the verdict given by the High Court of Delhi
- The advocate representing St.Stephen's College informed the Honourable Bench that there was CUET last year and there were no such norms that 100% admission should be provided based on the entrance exam.
- Senior Advocate General Argued that there shouldn`t be an Interview at all.
- The SC argued that if St.Stephen`s College is giving 15% of weightage for the interview for minority candidates, then why will the same rule apply to non-minority candidates?
- The court further argued that students are discriminated against if 15% of reservations are given to minority students. The court further noted that this argument was made by UGC before the High Court of Delhi a few days back.
- The SC questioned why can`t a similar standard of admission process be followed. The court asked why an institution should have two norms of the admission process.
- The Bench posted the hearing will resume at 2:00 PM.
- The Supreme Court pronounced its Judgment that the interim relief sought by St. Stephen’s College has been dismissed, and it can’t give a stay on the order passed by the High Court of Delhi. The admissions will happen based on CUET merit completely.
- The Hearing has commenced, and the advocate representing UGC is discussing the issue
- The Bench asked if an Interview is conducted for UG admission as per UGC policies
- The advocate responded that there are 6 minority colleges, and only St. Stephen’s College conducts the interview for UG admissions
- The advocate further added that CUET is introduced to maintain uniformity in admission, and St. Stephen’s is looking for a separate interview-based admission process for non-minority students by implementing 15% weightage for interview
- The Bench notes that 15% weightage for Interviews is huge
- The advocate noted that as the issue is pertaining to a ‘Minority’, no correspondence has been made between DU and St. Stephen’s about the objectivity of the interview process
- The advocate further noted that St. Stephen’s college has not yet initiated the admission process for UG courses as per its own admission process as the matter has been due with the Honourable Supreme Court
- The advocate representing UGC indicated that the commission is not in favour of conducting interviews for UG admission
- The court questioned whether there was a 15% weightage for interviews for non-minority students in previous years (before implementing CUET for admissions)
- The advocate representing DU indicated that there are hidden parameters for admission at St. Stephen’s college because of which the student will be denied admission in his desired course. CUET merit is the only best option for admission
- The Court questioned the mechanism of ST. Stephen’s Admission. The question is, apart from the marks scored in CUET - is the Interview the only way for determining merit at the second stage
- The bench further questioned what could be the best mechanism to be followed in times to come
- Can St. Stephen’s have an interview? If yes, how many marks? That's the decision that needs to be taken - pointed out by Advocate Kapil
- The advocate representing St. Stephen’s noted that the New Education Policy clearly mentioned that marks should not be the only criterion for admission. In foreign countries, interviews are conducted to test the personality of candidates
- Senior Advocate General argued that foreign countries are different and in India we know the importance of marks
- Advocate Kapil noted that the interview is conducted just to test the personality of candidates and 15% weightage has not been fixed by the college officially
- The Bench questioned that if there is uniformity in the admission process now, what is the point of an interview? If a student gets 90% marks, his marks are reduced because of an interview process
- Advocate Sibal further argues that marks are not merited solely
- Sibal further explains a similar judgment of an old case in which Honourable Justice DY ChandraChud clearly mentioned that high marks in an exam can’t solely determine the merit of a candidate
- The court further noted that the matter regarding the next year’s admission process will be discussed in mid-March
As the primary factor in determining admission to undergrad programmes, CUET scores will be given 100 percent weighting by DU and its affiliated colleges. However, St Stephen's College decided to give CUET results 85% of the weight, with non-minority student interviews receiving the remaining 15%.
Since May of this year, there has been a dispute about admissions. The Delhi High Decision in favour of DU's 100% CUET admission policy after the two institutions exchanged letters back and forth and then filed an appeal.
St.Stephen`s College Issue: Supreme Court Case Details
Here are the important case details pertaining to St.Stephen`s College DU Admission Issue| Case Number | Special Leave Petition |
|---|---|
| Date of Judgment | October 19, 2022 |
| Dairy Number | 30916/2022 |
| Time of Pronouncing Judgment | By 12:45 PM |
| Honourable Justice | Ajay Rastogi and CT Ravikumar |
| Name of the Advocate for Petitioner | Romy Chacko |
| Name of the Advocate on behalf of DU | Vishunu Kant |
| Case Status | Pending |
