University of Delhi: Fill vacant seats in LLB course, HC tells DU

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi University (DU) to fill up within two weeks the vacant seats across all categories in its LLB course, saying it is unfair if seats in such a prestigious institute go waste in spite of meritorious candidates. Justice Rekha Palli, while allowing the petitions by three aspirants who failed to get admission despite vacant seats in the course, stated that DU will fill up the seats after considering all eligible candidates, including the petitioners, as per their merit and ensure additional classes for the newly admitted students if required.

The judge observed that it is a dream for many students to get their education from a reputed university like DU and the three petitioners, who have cleared the entrance examination, should not be denied the opportunity to pursue the degree. “There is no gainsaying that the aim of counselling in any institution is to fill up the maximum available seats by granting an opportunity to deserving and eligible candidates to gain education and knowledge. "Unarguably, Delhi University is one of the premier institutes in imparting education across the country, and it is a dream for many students to get their education from a university of this repute. "It would be unfair to the candidates if seats in such a prestigious institute are allowed to go to waste, despite there being candidates with merit to fill the same,” the court said in its order passed on February 3.

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The court said the petitioners, who are young students and have shown their grit and determination in clearing the entrance examination, should not be denied the opportunity to pursue the LLB degree, especially keeping in view the devastating impact of the Covid- 19 pandemic which has painted a rather gloomy picture for many students, as their studies have faced constant disruption. The court opined that DU's unwillingness to consider filling the vacant seats on the grounds of strict adherence to December 31 being the last cut-off date was not acceptable when the varsity itself neither followed the cut-off date mentioned in the information bulletin nor it followed the guidelines on cancellation of admissions in certain cases.

“The writ petitions deserve to be allowed, and are accordingly, allowed, by directing the respondent to fill up within two weeks all the available vacant seats in LLB course across all the categories, by considering all eligible candidates, including the petitioners, as per their merit. "Needless to state, if there is any requirement for these students to attend additional classes, the respondent will ensure that the same are conducted well within time,” the court ordered.

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The petitioners being desirous of obtaining admission to the three-year LLB programme at the Faculty of Law, DU had appeared for the entrance examination for the upcoming academic session 2021-22. It was stated that as per the seat matrix released by the Faculty of Law, there were in all 3,320 seats, but after perusing seats allotted to candidates in accordance with the published merit lists, the petitioners realised that a number of seats across different categories had remained vacant. The DU opposed the petitions and argued that petitioners did not have any vested right to seek admission after the process of admission is already over and a cut-off date is fixed to ensure that the admission process is completed in a suitable time frame and does not go on endlessly.