DU v. St Stephen's | Supreme Court to Hear on August 21 Pleas over College Conducting Interviews for Minority Candidates in Current Academic Year

A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and PS Narasimha was hearing a special leave petition filed by DU against an interim order of the Delhi High Court allowing the college to go ahead with its 85-15 weighting scheme for this academic session for Christian minority seats.

The bench adjourned Friday's hearing until Monday, August 21 at the behest of the University Grants Commission, which has also filed an appeal against the order. The court acceded to the commission's request to hear its plea along with the one filed by Delhi University on Monday.

During the brief exchange in the courtroom today, Solicitor-General for India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the University, argued that interviews introduced a component of subjectivity that did not yield the fairest results - 

"I have a short point. St Stephen's is a minority institution meaning that 50 percent of its seats are reserved for minority students. There is no dispute about this. Till now, the position was that 35 percent of these reserved seats would be filled according to merit, and for the remaining 15 percent, the college would hold interviews. Interviews bring subjectivity. This meant that someone receiving fewer marks might get admission over someone scoring more marks, by getting more points in the interview."

Senior Advocate A Mariarputham, appearing for St Stephen's college, objected, saying, "This is not correct."

However, before the solicitor-general could continue, the bench intervened. "Mr Solicitor, the problem is, there's a request on behalf of UGC to have this matter on Monday. Let's hear this on Monday."

"I have no difficulty with that," Solicitor-General Mehta replied, before adding, "I just hope they are not holding any interviews."

Mariarputham informed the bench that admissions had already been made in terms of the interim order of the Delhi High Court. "Classes have also started on the 16th. This is a challenge against the interim order. So effectively this is an infructuous matter."

"We will have it on Monday. We will hear this along with UGC's petition," Justice Bopanna said firmly.

In parting, Solicitor-General Mehta expressed his apprehension that the reserved seats that are filled by the college on the basis of an interview have become 'payment seats'. The law officer said, "This 15 percent...it has virtually become payment seats. Your Lordship knows, this practice..."

This comment appeared to draw the ire of the opposing counsel. Mariarputham vehemently protested, saying, "This is a wrong statement to make. He should not make that statement. He is an officer of the court. He may argue on merits, but not make such statements."

This is not a statement, but my argument on the merits of the matter, Mehta retorted.

The bench intervened again. There was no need to get worked up until Monday, Justice Bopanna said to the counsel, before directing the hearing to be adjourned.

Background

The controversy is over the admission policy introduced by the University of Delhi in April of last year, which mandated the marks obtained in the Common University Entrance Test as the sole eligibility criterion for admission to colleges under DU. In the last academic year, the university and its affiliated college were involved in a legal battle over this policy of admission. St Stephen’s initially insisted on following an 85-15 formula for non-Christian applicants seeking admission in its undergraduate courses – and later, for minority as well as non-minority candidates – with the result of the entrance examination holding 85 percent weight and the interview contributing 15 percent to the overall scores.

St Stephen’s cited its status as a minority institution to defend this policy, claiming that it could take autonomous decisions with respect to admissions. On the other hand, while Delhi University agreed to make a concession with respect to the Christian applicants and accepted the college’s plan to conduct interviews for such candidates; it was unwilling to budge on the issue relating to the admission criteria for non-minority students.

This led to the college filing a petition seeking the quashing of a May 2022 communication issued by DU, by which the university had demanded that admission to all undergraduate courses be made entirely on the basis of 2022 CUET scores. Besides this, St Stephen’s college also challenged the communication to the extent that it mandated a single merit list for admission of Christian candidates regardless of any denominations, sub-sects, or sub-categories within the community.

A bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad quashed the communication with respect to the single merit list it mandated for all Christian candidates. But, on the issue of conducting interviews for non-minority students, the division bench directed St Stephen’s to follow the admission policy formulated for the academic year by the university, and to that effect, withdraw its admission prospectus and issue a public notice declaring the amended procedure for admission to undergraduate courses. The bench held:

“While the petitioner-college retains its authority to conduct interviews in addition to the CUET for the admission of students belonging to the minority community, it cannot devise a policy that forces the non-minority community to undergo an interview as well. Therefore, the right of the petitioner-college to conduct interviews and accord to them 15 percent weightage for the purposes of admitting students does not extend to non-minority students, and solely pertains to its minority students.”

When the matter travelled to the Supreme Court in appeal, a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and CT Ravikumar refused to stay the order of the Delhi High Court directing St Stephen’s college to consider only CUET scores for admission of non-minority students.

As a result of the high court directions, and the apex court’s order, St Stephen’s conducted interviews holding 15 percent weight only for minority students in the last admission cycle. However, this year, the university has made it clear that only CUET marks will be considered for admission to undergraduate and post-graduate courses and that this rule would apply to all categories of candidates, including those belonging to minority communities, leading to a second round of litigation.

Not only has St Stephen’s published its prospectus stating that the 85-15 formula will be followed for minority candidates in this academic year as well, the college has also challenged the Delhi University’s notification in a writ petition in the Delhi High Court.

After the Supreme Court clarified that the high court would be ‘at liberty’ to hear the writ petition despite the pendency of a special leave petition on related issues before it, the Delhi High Court granted interim relief to the college last month. A bench headed by the Chief Justice has directed that the admission policy as framed by it in last year’s judgment shall be followed by the university for the academic year 2023- 24.

Case Title

University of Delhi v. St. Stephen's College & Anr. | Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 17344 of 2023