The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the government and Delhi University to look into the possibility of allowing reservation for students from the Capital in colleges funded by the Delhi government. The directions were issued by the bench of Acting Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmad and Justice Vibhu Bakhru on a PIL filed by NGO Moksha Foundation,which had sought reservation of up to 85 per cent of total seats for Delhi domicile students in government-funded DU colleges. Arguing that Delhi University was established to provide education to students of Delhi but had not been able to fulfil its objective because of its functioning as a central university,the NGO said students in Delhi were being denied admission to various undergraduate courses in DU colleges on account of large-scale migration. The court had initially been reluctant to interfere in the matter after the counsel for DU informed the court that as a central university,DU could not give any domicile-based reservation. However,during arguments,the NGOs counsel told the court that government-funded colleges were affiliated to the university and not directly under the university. The 12 colleges where the NGO has sought reservation include Deen Dayal Upadhyay College,Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education,Keshav Mahavidyalaya,Maharaja Agrasen College,Shaheed Raj Guru College and Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies. The court has asked the government,DU,and UGC to take a decision on the issue within two months.
