St Stephen’s College has urged the Delhi University to abide by the 1992 Supreme Court judgement and “avoid creating an unpleasant situation” for students seeking admission in the college.
In a sharp reply to the varsity, the college said all candidates who apply to St Stephen’s will face the same admission procedures, without discrimination. The college has asserted that it will retain its ‘tried and trusted’ interview process during admission.
The Delhi University had recently warned St. Stephen’s College that it would declare “null and void” all admissions made by it in violation of the Central Universities Entrance Test (CUET) guidelines.
In a letter to DU Registrar Vikas Gupta, the college principal John Varghese has pointed out that to suddenly forget the process that the college has followed and which the University has approved for the last four decades and more is “strange indeed”.
“The decision taken by the college to retain its stellar, tried and trusted interview process and other related steps in the admission process shall continue. All candidates who apply to the college shall face the same admission procedures, without discrimination,” Varghese said.
“St Stephen’s College as a Christian minority institution has its admission procedures approved by the highest court in the land and guaranteed by the Constitution of India, ” the principal said, referring to the 1992 judgement of the Supreme Court.
The prospectus for the undergraduate courses 2022-23 stated, “St Stephen’s College will adopt the CUET as the eligibility criteria with 85 percent weightage for CUET and the college’s interview for shortlisted candidates with a weightage of 15 per cent.” Meanwhile, Varghese mentioned in the letter that the Prospectus of the College for Admissions 2022-2023 was uploaded taking into consideration “our obligations, duties, rights and privileges as one of the premier educational institutions in this country”.
The St. Stephen’s College, asserting its minority institution character, has said it will accord 85 per cent weightage to the CUET score and 15 per cent to physical interviews for all categories of candidates, a stand strongly opposed by DU, which wants interviews to be conducted only for the reserved category students.
With inputs from PTI.