Delhi HC allows 7 students to attend classes at St Stephen’s, restrains DU from making further allocations to college

The latest directive comes after St. Stephen's College approached the division bench of the Delhi High Court on September 9. Read details below.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday allowed the seven students who were earlier granted admission to St Stephen's College to attend classes until further orders. In its order, the court said the seven students could attend classes but restrained Delhi University from making further allocationstothecollege.

St. Stephen's College had approached the division bench of the Delhi High Court against an order passed by a single-bench judge directing the college to grant admission to seven students whose admissions were in limbo due to a dispute between the college and Delhi University (DU). (file image)

The Court said in its order, “The 7 students who have approached this court are permitted to attend the classes till further orders but the university will not make further allocation.”

The latest directive comes after St. Stephen's College approached the division bench of the Delhi High Court on September 9 against an order passed by a single-bench judge directing the college to grant admission to seven students whose admissions were in limbo due to a dispute between the college and Delhi University (DU).

On September 6, a bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma passed an order directing Stephen’s to admit the students and upheld the varsity’s policy of allocating extra seats in the initial round, which was disputed by the college.

The order was passed following a plea filed by seven students claiming that the college had neither accepted nor rejected their application despite completing all the formalities. The petitioners had stated that they were facing undue hardships without any fault of theirs.

Consequently, the plea filed by Stephen’s painted a picture that the single judge misunderstood the intent and purpose of the over-allocation of seats in the initial rounds and violated its fundamental right to administer the college, by directing admission to the students.

Furthermore, the College had also claimed that Delhi University, as per CSAS provisions, could have allocated only one candidate under the category of the Single Girl Child in the BA Program, and instead allocated 10 candidates, which was impermissible and untenable.

(With inputs from Shruti Kakkar)