DU graduates move HC for direction to JNU to grant admission

NEW DELHI: Three students, whose graduation results were declared by Delhi University (DU) with a delay during the COVID-19 pandemic, have urged the Delhi High Court to direct JNU to give them admission in postgraduate courses.

The students claimed that despite achieving a higher score in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) entrance examination, the varsity was not granting them admission due to delay in the publication of their graduation results by the DU.

Responding to the submissions of the students, the JNU’s counsel said that admissions are still going on for several courses and if the seats are available in the relevant courses for which the petitioners have applied in their respective categories, and if they qualify on merit for admission in those courses, their cases will also be considered sympathetically by the university.

In the hearing held on Tuesday, Justice Prateek Jalan accepted the statement made by JNU counsel Monika Arora and said it is made clear that as the students’ results have been declared, the clause stipulating that preference shall be given to those whose results have been declared will not stand in the way of their admissions if seats are available in the relevant courses and they are otherwise qualified on merit.

JNU admissions and COVID-19

The three students have completed their undergraduate degrees from DU in English (Hons.) and Political Science (Hons.) respectively and they are seeking admission to the M.A. courses in their respective subjects in the JNU.

The petitioners, represented through advocates Kawalpreet Kaur and Haider Ali, said they took the JNU entrance examination and have achieved a result higher than that required for admission in the first list published by the varsity.

JNU had published an e-prospectus for the academic session 2020-21 on March 3, 2020, laying down the selection procedure for admission in detail. The students’ grievance was related to a clause that preference would be given to candidates whose results in their qualifying examination have been declared.

Their counsel submitted that in the present pandemic situation, the results of the last semester of the B.A.(Hons.) courses taken by them were declared by DU only on November 20 and 21, 2020 and JNU, however, had required the results of the previous year to be uploaded by November 8, 2020.

Court case

The petitioners claimed that in these circumstances, although they qualified on merit for admission in JNU, they were not considered for admission.

The counsel contended that the preference is given to candidates whose results have been declared is discriminatory and would result the petitioners being rendered ineligible for no fault of theirs.

The counsel submitted that admission in the relevant courses in JNU is still in progress and they would be satisfied if the university were to consider their cases on merits at this stage, in the event vacant seats are still available in the courses for which they have applied.

The high court disposed of the petition noting the statement made by the JNU counsel and that the students’ counsel said she does not wish to press for further orders.

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