HC dismisses DUSU plea challenging DU decision to consider only 12th marks for admission

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Friday dismissed a plea by the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) challenging the varsity's decision to consider only class 12th marks for the admission of students from the Kerala state board which determines the grades by combining marks of class XI and XII.

A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said the petition was “highly belated” and lacked merits. The court said it cannot pass any order on presumptions and will see if some student from Kerala files a petition with a grievance. “They have changed it so changed it, how can anyone grutch about it… If you don’t want to read the clear writing on the wall, then that is your choice,” the bench said while perusing the June admission bulletin issued by DU which said that if a candidate mark sheet contains both class XI and XII marks, he or she shall enter only class XII marks.

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DUSU, in its plea, said it was approaching the high court against the “arbitrary, irrational and unfair conduct” of authorities that have violated the fundamental and legal rights of innumerable students. It said that in terms of the consistent policy, certain state boards including the Directorate of General Education (Higher Secondary Wing), Government of Kerala, gives combined marks of both XI and XII standard on the mark sheets.

The policy explicitly states that to determine grades of students, combined marks of both XI and XII shall be considered, it said. Advocate Ashish Dixit, representing DUSU, said the Delhi University for several years correspondingly incorporated provision in admission bulletin stating that in cases where state boards publish marks of both XI and XII standard, the merit of students shall be determined based on such consolidated mark sheets.

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However, the Delhi University has unilaterally and arbitrarily decided in its admission process of 2021-2022 that students would only be required to fill marks of XII standard, he said adding that when the admissions began for the sessions 2021-2022, the colleges raised and conveyed objections concerning mark sheets containing marks of both XI and XII.

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The plea was opposed by Delhi University’s counsel M Rupal who raised objection over DUSU’s locus standi to file the petition since the association only represents students of Delhi University and not those who have not yet taken admission here. He further said the admission bulletin was issued by the varsity in June and the petitioner has approached the court in October which is highly belated.

However, Dixit said the issue was first highlighted on October 4 then they have a representation to the vice-chancellor on October 9 but to date, no decision has been taken. The plea said initially, the university directed that such cases be kept on hold, however, within a few hours, the admissions office of DU circulated an email to colleges asserting that the Admission Advisory Committee has decided that only marks of XII standard shall be considered.

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It said the state boards declared results following a long-standing policy which was notified for the examinations conducted for the academic session 2020-2021. It said the union gave a representation to the authorities and met the highest officers of the university but they have not acted in any manner for the welfare of students after which the petition was filed.

Earlier, the high court had dismissed a petition which alleged a “disproportionate” number of admissions of students from Kerala state board in Delhi University, saying fixing of cut-offs was a matter of the varsity's admission policy. The earlier petition was filed by a DU-aspirant seeking a “scaling mechanism” for marks scored by students from different boards in order to provide a level playing field.