Delhi HC reserves order on pleas challenging DU's new admission criteria

The Delhi High Court on Friday reserved its order on pleas challenging the new admission criteria for undergraduate admissions to Delhi University (DU).

A division bench comprising Justices Anu Malhotra and Talwant Singh reserved its order on a batch of pleas challenging the new admission criteria of the varsity.

The petitioners claimed that a change in the eligibility criteria in B Com (Hons) and BA (Hons) in Economics is "illegal" and violates Article 14 of the Constitution, as it was done arbitrarily and without any prior notice.

Replying on the pleas, the varsity defended its decision of amending the admission criteria and told the court that new admission norms were formed after holding discussions with the stakeholders and experts in the fields.

"The laying of additional eligibility criteria in the undergraduate courses more particularly in B. Com (Hons) and BA Economics (Honours) has been done after much deliberation and discussions with the stakeholders and experts in respective fields," the University said in its reply.

Until last year, the eligibility criteria stated that a student had to score at least 50 per cent marks in mathematics to apply for BA (Hons) in Economics. However, this year, the University made the subject mandatory for the 'best of four', that is, Maths has to be part of the top four subjects, aggregate of which will be considered for the admission.

Similarly for B.Com (Hons), a student was required to pass mathematics/business mathematics with an aggregate of 45 per cent

Similarly, B.Com (Hons) required a student to have passed mathematics or business mathematics with an aggregate of 45 per cent marks as a mandatory requirement, but this year, DU made it compulsory that a student should have 50 per cent or more marks in mathematics or business mathematics and an aggregate of 60 per cent.