DU's new admission norms challenged in Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought Delhi University's reply on why it had amended its criteria for admissions just a day before opening of registration for admissions.

Responding to a plea challenging the new eligibility norms for undergraduate commerce and economics honours courses, a division bench of Justices Anu Malhotra and Talwant Singh observed that there was arbitrariness in amending the criteria.

The court asked the Centre, Delhi University and the University Grants Commission to file a reply by June 14, the next date of hearing.

The lawyer has said that DU's decision to amend the criteria at the last moment was in violation of the principle of natural justice.

As per new norms, 50 per cent marks in Mathematics in class 12 is mandatory for applying for admission in undergraduate commerce courses, which was not followed earlier, the advocate said.

He said in a similar way, for applying for admission in BA Economics honours, Maths has to be a part of the top four subjects, which he said was arbitrary.

Earlier B.Com honours and Economics honours, the two course at DU, required Maths as a subject in Class 12, however, it was not necessary to include it in the best of four subjects, but securing passing marks was a must.

Similar changes were made in various other programmes, the plea said.

Bagri has requested the court to continue with the admissions for undergraduate courses for 2019-20 in DU as per the old eligibility criteria.

The registration for admissions in DU commenced on May 30 and will close on June 14. In his plea, Bagri has said that the court directs the authorities concerned that at least one year prior notice be given in case there is a proposal for a minor change in the prevailing admission criteria for any undergraduate or other courses.

--IANS

ak/prs