St Stephen's College: Delhi HC bars 6 students with provisional admission from attending classes

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday barred six students, who were granted provisional admission in St. Stephen's College on the basis of DU's allotment of seats, from attending classes till further orders. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela was hearing an appeal filed by the college challenging a single judge's interim order directing that the six students be granted provisional admission in the college according to the allocation by the university.

The division bench said though the single judge's August 23 order states that provisional admission be granted to these students, it was of the opinion that the order virtually granted relief sought by them in the main petition. "Till further orders, Respondents 1 to 6 (students) shall be at liberty to take admission in colleges of their second preference. University shall facilitate them in taking admission in their second preference colleges. "Till further orders, Respondents 1 to 6 shall not attend their classes in the (St. Stephen's) college," it said.

The bench also advanced the date of hearing from September 11 to September 5 in the petition pending before the single judge. The court also pulled up the university for allotting more students to the college than the sanctioned strength. "The university must understand that they are playing with the students’ careers. You are not playing a game of chess that you are settling for. It is a very serious matter," the division bench said.

It added, "Don't do this with students, this will affect their careers. Tell this to the university, this is not good. We hope that better sense will prevail." The college, in its appeal, claimed that there was a violation of the principles of natural justice in denying a fair opportunity of hearing to it by the single judge.

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"Had the appellant college had an opportunity to prepare all relevant data and calculations, no directions needed to have been passed against it as the allotment of the students was manifestly in excess of the capacity of the college, and beyond the understanding to admit 5 per cent excess of sanctioned seats between the college and university," it said.

The appeal said the single judge's order in directing provisional admission to the students violated the college's right to select students for admission, as part of its fundamental right under Article 30 to establish and administer minority educational institutions.

'DU allocates seats beyond permitted intake'

The college blamed DU for allocating students to its courses beyond the permitted intake or sanctioned seats and added that the university had miscalculated the number of seats available with it. DU's counsel stated that an advance copy of the petition was not served and sought some time to obtain instructions. He, however, said that the allocation of students by the varsity was within the excess allotment of 5 per cent.

The counsel for the six students opposed the college's appeal and contended that it was not maintainable. He said the students would not take admission in their second preference colleges as they have been allocated seats in their first preference college, that is, St. Stephen’s College. To this, the court said this showed that the students do not treat their admission as provisional but final.

"The apex court in a large number of judgments has stated that the courts should be circumspect in directing admission of students by virtue of interim orders and that too without giving sufficient notice to the other side,” the bench said.

The single judge had granted the relief to the six students while noting that there was no fault of these students who had successfully cleared the CUET exam and other formalities and despite being meritorious they were being kept under suspense regarding the fate of their admission.