DU's Academic, Executive councils write to VC, say changes in eligibility criteria 'arbitrary'

Members of the Academic and Executive councils of the Delhi University have written to the vice-chancellor to reverse the changes brought in the eligibility criteria for various courses, describing them as "arbitrary" and "unwarranted".

Students have been caught unaware as the eligibility criteria for some courses have been changed.

Many aspirants have queried about the changed eligibility criteria for BA (Honours) Economics course.

Till the last year, if a student had 50 per cent in Mathematics, he or she could apply for BA (Hons) in Economics, but this year the subject has been made mandatory for 'Best of Four', which means Maths has to be part of the top four subjects, aggregate of which will be considered for the admission.

Similarly, BCom (Honours) required a student to have passed Mathematics/Business Mathematics with an aggregate of 45 per cent marks as a mandatory requirement.

This year, the criteria has been tweaked which mandates that a student should have 50 per cent or more marks in Mathematics/Business Mathematics and an aggregate of 60 per cent with number of new conditionalities attached, the letter said.

"We, the following members of AC and EC, wish to draw your attention towards the drastic changes in eligibility criteria for admissions in various UG courses.

"We are shocked to find these major changes in the basic criteria which are at variance with the eligibility criteria being applied till the last academic session. This is important to note that these changes do not have sanction of the Academic Council," the letter said.

The letter said these changes are "arbitrary, unwarranted and uncalled for" as the admissions are finalised on the basis of merit as reflected in the cut-off of the various courses and thus causing chaos among the students.

"As per the rules and regulations of our university, such major policy decisions must be taken in the Academic Council, which have far reaching adverse consequences for SC, ST, OBC and EWS students. The students have been caught unaware and they must be given sufficient time to adapt themselves to these changes," it said.

The letter urged the vice-chancellor to restore the earlier criteria for this academic session on an "urgent basis".

J L Gupta, Rajesh Jha, Seema Das, Sudhanshu and Pradeep Kumar are the members of the two councils who have written the letter.