Delhi HC seeks Centre, DU's stand on plea challenging varsity's new admission norms

The Delhi High Court Monday sought to know the stand of the Centre and the Delhi University on a plea challenging its new admission norms for undergraduate courses. The court said there is arbitrariness in how criteria were amended just a day before the opening of registration for admission.

The plea by lawyer Charanpal Singh Bagri claimed that the varsity's decision to amend the criteria at the last moment was in violation of the principle of natural justice. The DU commenced registration for admission on May 30. It will close on June 14.

The court has asked the Human Resource Development Ministry, represented by advocate Brajesh Kumar, and the varsity to file their replies to the plea by June 14, the next date of hearing. Students have been caught unaware as the eligibility criteria for some courses have been changed.

Till last year, if a student had 50 per cent in Mathematics, he or she could apply for BA (Hons) in Economics, but this year the subject has been made mandatory for 'Best of Four', which means Maths has to be part of the top four subjects, aggregate of which will be considered for the admission. Similarly, BCom (Honours) required a student to have passed Mathematics/Business Mathematics with an aggregate of 45 per cent marks as a mandatory requirement.

This year, the criteria have been tweaked which mandates that a student should have 50 per cent or more marks in Mathematics/Business Mathematics and an aggregate of 60 per cent with a number of new conditionalities attached. The petition has sought quashing of the amended eligibility criteria and that students be allowed to apply as per the earlier criteria.

According to news reports, members of the Academic and Executive councils of the Delhi University had recently written to the vice-chancellor to reverse the changes brought in the eligibility criteria for various courses, describing them as "arbitrary" and "unwarranted". The letter had urged the vice-chancellor to restore the earlier criteria for this academic session on an "urgent basis".

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