St. Stephen’s College argued in the High Court on Wednesday that DU single girl-child quota admissions are “ex-facie unconstitutional.” The statement came amid an ongoing dispute over the allocation of seats for the current academic session. The college, while responding to pleas from Delhi University aspirants who had been allotted seats at the institution, contended that the seat allocations exceeded the permissible intake limit.
Senior advocate Romy Chacko, representing the college, presented his arguments before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma on Wednesday. He explained that before 2022, the CUET (Common University Entrance Test) did not exist, and the university did not have any involvement in the admission process. However, with the introduction of CUET, a centralised exam was established.
Chacko highlighted that as a minority institution, the college is entitled to reserve 50% of its seats for its allotments, while the remaining 50% can be filled through the university’s process. Despite this arrangement, he claimed that the university has been exceeding its role in seat allotments, which the institution has had to tolerate.
The college has maintained that the BA program should be viewed as a single, cohesive program regardless of the individual topic specialisation. To allocate, the University of Delhi has been handling each specialisation within the BA program as a distinct individual program. This disparity has resulted in variations in the allocation of resources and assistance.
Chacko also pointed out that Delhi University has yet to provide a panel for hiring new teachers, despite vacancies remaining unfilled for the past two years. He emphasised, “They continue to admit more students, but there’s no corresponding increase in the number of teachers.”
In the context of the DU single girl-child quota, the college mentioned that the policy lacks “statutory backing.” Justice Sharma enquired whether the college had ever contested the quota. The college acknowledged that they had not previously challenged it. However, they are now raising this issue because the allocations from Delhi University are creating difficulties for them.
The college argues that a single girl child could very well be the daughter of a multimillionaire or an IAS officer and therefore may not face any particular disadvantages. They contend that there is no reasonable justification for presuming that such a child needs special consideration. Furthermore, the college has pointed out that the practice of Delhi University allocating more students than the approved intake is not authorised by the DU Statute or Ordinances, and it is not mentioned in the Bulletin of Information.
Senior advocate Mohinder Rupal, representing the students, argued passionately, “What wrongdoing can be attributed to these petitioners? We have over 60 colleges in our network, and there are no issues with the others. Ultimately, if the court decides that the petitioners cannot gain admission to St. Stephen’s, they will likely miss out on opportunities at other top colleges as well, since seats are filling up quickly. We are always open to discussions, but not at the expense of the students trying to enter.”
Conclusively, St. Stephen’s College has challenged the constitutionality of the DU single girl-child quota in a recent High Court hearing. The college claims that the university’s handling of the BA program and its admissions process is problematic, particularly as it has not addressed vacancies in teaching staff. Students’ advocate Mohinder Rupal countered that denying admissions could significantly impact students’ opportunities, urging for a solution that considers both institutional and student needs.
