Admission row erupts at Hindu College, staff move ‘no-confidence’ motion against principal
Staff members have alleged procedural violations and over-admissions in two popular courses, while the university has attributed the skewed allocation to an inadvertent algorithm error.
Hindu College staff pass a no-confidence motion against principal Anju Srivastava over alleged Sports and ECA admission irregularities as DU cites an algorithmic error. (File Photo)
A row erupted at Delhi University’s Hindu College over alleged irregularities in admissions under the Sports and Extra Curricular Activities (ECA) quota in select courses, with the staff association passing a ‘no confidence’ motion against the principal on Tuesday.
Claiming that “procedural violations” took place in the admissions process, the association alleged that the principal facilitated over-admissions and sought an enquiry. The resolution was passed following an emergency meeting convened by the Staff Association on August 18 (Tuesday).
The university, however, attributed the over-allocation to an error in its admission algorithm.
Principal Anju Srivastava also denied the claims and told The Indian Express, “Admissions are done by the central admission committee, which is a duly constituted body under the staff council. The entire admission process is delegated to the admission committee headed by its convenor.”
“All admissions are allocated by the university which are then executed by the college. While the principal is undoubtedly the ultimate signing authority, she has no direct role in the admission process,” she added.
What triggered the row
The dispute centres on the first round of admissions for the 2026-27 academic session.
Under the university’s admission rules, a maximum of 20% of the total supernumerary seats under the ECA and sports quotas can be allocated to a single undergraduate programme in a college.
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The association said Hindu College should have allotted a maximum 10 seats under ECA and sports quota for each course.
However, the DU admission branch, it alleged, allocated 32 out of 48 total ECA and sports quota seats to Commerce and Political Science (17 and 15 respectively). This resulted in a skewed distribution, with very few seats being allocated in other courses, members claimed.
Chandrachur Singh, Secretary of the Staff Council and a teacher at the college, alleged that there’s been “over-allocation and admissions” under the ECA and sports quotas in the Commerce and Political Science departments, among the college’s most sought-after programmes.
“If we analyse past admission data, sports seats mainly used to be allocated to BA programme courses. This year, hardly 3% seats have been allocated to BA programme and other suitable courses for sports students,” he said.
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“But Commerce has been allocated 35% seats under ECA and sports quotas, resulting in 53% more admissions than the sanctioned 79 seats,” Singh alleged.
He claimed this “prima facie” indicates that the DU admission branch “has done wrong allocation in this supernumerary quota”, allegedly to favour certain cases… to be admitted to popular courses at top DU colleges.
DU calls it ‘inadvertent’ error
DU Registrar Vikas Gupta, however, said “overallocation” in these two sought-after programmes had been caused by an “algorithmic error”, but that there “has been no merit violation” since the candidates had qualified for allocation on the basis of their ECA and sports points.
“We have an automated system to which we have to apply the algorithm. However, there was an error in the programming which made the calculation. By the time we got to know about it, it was already late and many students had already taken admissions based on the allocation. It happened in another programme, but there we caught it earlier and were able to correct it,” he said.
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Professor Haneet Gandhi, Dean of the Admission Branch, said in a formal communication to the Principal earlier this week that Round 1 allocations under the ECA and sports quotas were made “strictly on the basis of merit scores”.
“… while executing the allocation algorithm, the 20% cap was inadvertently applied at the programme level rather than separately to the Sports/ECA quota. This has caused overallocation in few programmes,” she said.
In a statement earlier this week, Hindu College said the decision to process the admissions was “neither unilateral nor taken without consultation”. The college’s Staff Council had given its nod “to proceed with the processing of the application in accordance with the University’s direction”, it said.
Sophiya Mathew is a Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in New Delhi. She joined the Delhi bureau in 2024, and has specialization in Integrated Multimedia Journalism from the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai.
Professional Background
Core Beats: Her reporting is primarily focused on the Environment and Education.
Specialization: She has gained recognition for her ground-level reporting on the Yamuna floodplains and the socio-economic challenges faced by those living on its banks. She also focuses on the disparities in Delhi's education system, ranging from elite private schools to government institutions and refugee education.
Recent Notable Articles (December 2025)
Her recent work has been heavily centered on Delhi's severe winter pollution crisis and the government's regulatory responses:
1. The Air Pollution Crisis
"A tale of two cities: Delhi govt schools choke in bad air, private classrooms set up air filters" (Dec 20, 2025): A high-impact feature contrasting the "Clean Air Bubbles" in elite schools with the reality of government school students who are exposed to an equivalent of 17 cigarettes a day due to outdoor exposure.
"Delhi sees season's worst air day, second worst December AQI in nearly a decade" (Dec 15, 2025): An analytical report on the meteorological patterns trapping pollutants in the NCR.
"Delhi bans non-BS VI vehicles from outside: Why curbing vehicular pollution is key" (Dec 17, 2025): Explaining the science behind targeting specific vehicle vintages to lower particulate matter.
2. Enforcement & Regulations
"No fuel at pumps in Delhi without valid PUC certificate from December 18" (Dec 17, 2025): Breaking the news on the environment ministry's strict "No PUC, No Fuel" policy.
3. Education Policy
"Law to regulate school fee in Delhi risks becoming procedural, say parents" (Dec 13, 2025): Investigating the loopholes in the new Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025.
"Monsoon Session: Private school fee regulation Bill cleared after four-hour debate" (Aug 9, 2025): Covering the legislative passage of the controversial fee hike regulation.
Signature Style
Sophiya is known for her observational depth. Her reporting often includes vivid details from school corridors, hospital waitlists, or the banks of the Yamuna to illustrate how policy failures affect the city's most vulnerable residents. She is a frequent expert guest on the 3 Things podcast, where she explains the complexities of Delhi’s environmental laws.
X (Twitter): @SophiyaMathew1 ... Read More
