Conduct admissions to unreserved seats using CUET scores: DU tells St Stephen's College

NEW DELHI: The Delhi University (DU) on Monday wrote to St Stephen's College, asking it to conduct admissions to the unreserved seats solely on the basis of CUET scores, senior officials said. The varsity has also asked the college to not do sub-categorisations under the Christian community. The college and the university have been locked in a tussle with the former insisting that it will give 85:15 weightage to Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores and interviews for candidates across categories.

The university has said interviews should only be conducted for reserved category students. The Vice-chancellor of DU, Yogesh Singh, said the university has written to the college that they will have to follow the Executive Council resolution of conducting admissions to general seats purely on the basis of the CUET scores. DU Registrar Vikas Gupta also confirmed the development. "We have written to them that for minority seats 85 per cent weightage should be given to CUET scores and 15 per cent to interviews. We have also said that there should be no categorisation or sub-categorisation within the Christian community," he said.

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Being a minority institution, the college reserves 50 per cent of its seats for Christian candidates. Till last year, out of the earmarked seats for Christian students, 50 per cent were reserved for those belonging to the Church of North India while the other half were filled by the candidates belonging to the Diocese of Delhi, Church of North India, which manages the college. The university will also not allow the college to have its separate counselling procedure, said the officials.

The university had also sought legal opinion on the matter. "We had sought legal opinion to see whether we are on a sound legal footing vis-a-vis our stand. The legal experts have supported our stand," said an official. In an admission notice posted on its website last month, St Stephen’s College said it will give 85 per cent weightage to CUET scores and 15 per cent to interviews for all categories of students. The college also said that it reserves the right to proceed with admissions as per its own admission policy guaranteed to it as a minority institution.