Delhi HC permits St Stephen’s to hold interviews for minority PG applicants

The Delhi high court on Monday permitted St Stephen’s college to conduct interviews for minority students seeking admission to postgraduate courses, and directed the Delhi University (DU) to frame guidelines governing the grant of the allotment of seats for PG programmes.

The court was hearing a plea by the college, seeking directions for DU to respect its choice of selected PG candidates, and to allot a proportionate number of postgraduate seats to the institution. In the alternative, St Stephen’s had sought directions to lay down guidelines for the allocation of seats to PG courses in the university.

The court permitted St Stephen’s to conduct interviews for minority students after the counsel for DU undertook that the university will ensure proportionate allocation of PG seats to the college as long as it restricts holding interviews for admission to PG courses only for minority students.

“The petitioner college is permitted to subject minority students, seeking admission to PG courses in the petitioner college to interview and to allocate 15% marks to interview with 85% being allocated for the students’ CUET (Common University Entrance Test) score. Non-minority students would, however, not be subjected to any interview for admission to PG courses in the petitioner college. Their admission would solely be on the basis of their CUET score,” a bench of justice C Hari Shankar said.

The court, in a 28-page order, further directed DU to frame guidelines or create a policy governing the grant of allotment of seats to PG courses.

“The court takes note of the fact that there is no guideline whatsoever governing such allocation (of PG seats). This is not an acceptable situation. Grant of uncanalised and absolute discretion is an invitation to arbitrariness. While the court cannot, in exercise of the jurisdiction vest in it by Article 226 of the Constitution of India, direct framing of guidelines, or creation of a policy, it is deemed appropriate that the DU be directed to consider doing so, in order to avoid any scope for arbitrariness,” the court noted.

The college represented through advocate Romy Chacko, said that DU, while allotting seats for admission to PG courses in colleges affiliated to it, was allotting a disproportionately small number of seats to St Stephen’s. The counsel further alleged that there were no objective guidelines governing the grant allotment of seats to the PG course.

Meanwhile, DU, represented through advocate Mohinder JS Rupal, took serious exception to St Stephen’s subjecting students who had already been selected and shortlisted by the university for admission to PG courses to an additional round of interview, and refusing admission to students on that basis.

To this, justice Shankar suggested that DU ensure proportional allotment of PG seats for St Stephen’s. “Among other considerations, the DU may consider, in deciding on the number of PG seats to be allotted, the infrastructure available with the concerned college, and the number of UG (undergraduate) students in that course of study admitted in the college,” the court said.

The order comes at a time when St Stephen’s plea against a September 2022 high court ruling, barring it from conducting interviews for the admission of non-minority students, is pending with the Supreme Court.

In August 2023, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with a high court interim order permitting St Stephen’s to conduct interviews for minority seats — the second year that the high court permitted the college to fill up the 50% Christian quota seats by giving 15% weightage to interviews.