Delhi HC refuses to stay process for Christian student's admission in St Stephen's

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to intervene and stay the process of interview panel in connection with the admission of Christian students in the St Stephen's College.

Justice Anu Malhotra while refusing to intervene in the matter observed that she did not find anything wrong in the interview process as the institute is seeking to maintain itself as they want it to be.

"I do not consider it appropriate to stay the interview process, the court said," Justice Malhotra said.

The court's order came on a petition filed by three teachers - NP Ashley, Abhishek Singh and Nandita Narain challenging the decision to have an additional Christian member nominated by the institution's supreme council to be a part of the interview panel for admission of students.

"The Stephen's teachers were represented by Sunil Mathews, Sabah Iqbal Siddiqui and Babita, who argued that the decision of the Supreme Council went against the constitution of Stephen's college which expressly prohibited interference of the Supreme Council in the administration of the college," according to a statement by the petitioner's advocate.

"The counsel also pointed out the observation of the Supreme Court in the St. Stephen's case of 1992 where the Supreme Court had held that admission of students was an essential facet of the administration of the college," the statement said.

"It had also approved of the selection mode which at that time only had the principal and teachers of the department concerned conducting the interviews for admission of students," it said.

On May 17, the student union and staff association of the college staged a protest against the alleged interference of the church authorities along with a member of the institution's supreme council in a panel to select students.

They also wrote an open letter to the college principal, urging him to develop communication opportunities with them.

The supreme council is a subset of 6 members of the governing body of the Church of North India. The chairperson of both the council and governing body is the Bishop of Delhi and the member secretary is the principal.

According to the college constitution, the supreme council will control the religious and moral instruction of the students and all matters affecting its religious character as a Christian college of the Church of North India. It shall have no jurisdiction over the administration of the college.