PIL on hostel for DU students: HC seeks varsity reply

The Delhi High Court today sought response of Delhi University on a PIL alleging that there is a grave disparity between the number of students admitted in the varsity and the hostel accommodation available for them.
The petition has sought directions to DU to immediately take steps for providing hostel accommodation to all the regular students, especially those belonging to the weaker section of society, who are studying there.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath asked the counsel for the varsity to take instructions with regard to the issues raised in the petition and listed the matter for further hearing on July 18.

The plea by Praveen Kumar Singh, a former DU student, has said that since building new infrastructure would take time, the varsity be directed to take certain short term steps, like providing Rs 10,000 stipend to those students who do not get hostel, turning single occupancy rooms to double occupancy and opening hotel messes for the non-resident students.
The petition has also sought directions to the Delhi government and the Centre to "declare the area in and around the five kilometer radius of Delhi University "south Campus and North campus" as a special students zone where a minimum rent is fixed for the accommodation for the students".

Singh has also suggested that DU can rent residential accommodations in the area around the campus "to help students find accommodation at right place and at the right price".

"The number of seats in the hostels under the University of Delhi is around 7000 whereas the number of admitted students is around 1,80,000. This a grave disparity putting extra burden on the students.
"The admission to the hostels is based on merit which does not take into consideration what is the economic status of the student, where he comes. It imposes a certain kind of uniformity which is detrimental to these students who have right to be treated differently," the petition said.

Referring to the disparity in hostel capacity vis-a-vis
the number students, the plea has said that "though Delhi University has expanded and opened its doors to large number of students, the hostel capacity has not been at par with that growth. Therefore, more and more number of students are forced to find accommodation outside the campus which renders them vulnerable."
The PIL has alleged that "as per the Delhi University Act of 1922, all the regular students shall be provided with residences however, 86 per cent students of the University have been left at the mercy of exploitative landlords and property dealers who exploit the students which include women scholars."

"There are no guidelines and standards that act as a check for the benefit of these students. The paying guest (PG) accommodation and other such structures which have mushroomed in and around the university campus and colleges, especially in the North Campus and South campus, have no standards.
"The students are being exploited with excessive rents and exorbitant increase in them at the owner's whims and fancies. This has also put security of the girl students at stake. All this is due to the reason that there are no standards or guidelines for regulating the PGs in the face of the fact that all these residences should actually have had been provided by the university itself under its statutory obligation," it has said.