Is criteria followed by all colleges: HC to DU

The court, however, said the DU notification stated that the cut-off/eligibility criteria “may” be followed by the colleges and, therefore, power was in their hands. The court also asked the DU counsel to explain where, in its admission circular, it was said that the colleges were bound by the eligibility criteria. “Normally, affiliates have to abide by the criteria. Where is that rule,” the court said. It also sought DU’s response on why admissions cannot be carried out only on the basis of theory marks.

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The observations were made during hearing on a bunch of petitions filed by students who studied from Kerala, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan state boards and, as a result, faced a deduction of 10 per cent in their best-of-four marks at the time of calculating cut-offs.
The students — some of whom could not get admission in the colleges of their choice and others whose admissions were cancelled — have sought a uniform system of admission. They also challenged the cut-off calculation notification.

The university, however, told the court that it was not possible to regularise all the state boards. The counsel for DU also argued that the students challenged the notification only after the fourth cut-off list was announced, instead of doing so before admissions commenced. If the pleas were allowed, the counsel said the admissions of all successful students would be affected.

The university also said it cannot decide on good and bad criteria as it was a policy decision. The hearing in the case is set to continue on Monday.