Arbitrary admissions: Court notice to DU

The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to Delhi University on an advocate's plea alleging arbitrary admission process in two courses.

A bench of Justice Manmohan asked DU to file a reply to the advocate's plea and listed the matter for hearing March 16, 2015.

The court was hearing the plea of advocate Jamshed Ansari, who has alleged that DU violated University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines and arbitrarily admitted students in Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) courses.

"As per UGC Regulation, 2009, the DU is bound to admit M. Phil/Ph.D. students through entrance test followed by interview. After admission, these students are required to undertake course work for a minimum period of one semester," the advocate said.

He added that DU disregarded the regulations and admitted students on the basis of interviews and the students did not undertake the minimum one semester course work.

He alleged that not following regulations helped candidates known to people in DU. The university also insisted on preparation of a synopsis with the pre-consultation of a faculty member before appearing for the interview, he said.

The advocate had applied for the Ph.D. programme of the faculty of law, DU against the notification for Ph.D. issued Jan 8 and appeared for the interview Feb 18. He could not qualify due to the allegedly arbitrary admission procedure.