Plea for 85 percent of DU seat reservation for students

The Delhi High Court today asked the city government and Delhi University (DU) to look into a plea seeking 85 percent seat reservation in the university for Delhiites and take a decision in two months.

The plea said that due to overflow of applications in the varsity, the "chances of city's students getting admission are reduced dramatically".

A division bench of acting Chief Justice B D Ahmed and Vibhu Bakhru disposed of a PIL and said in an order "the government of national capital territory and the university will take the lead in looking into the representation. Decision be taken in two months and the same shall be communicated to the petitioner.

According to the PIL, students of Delhi do not get admission in DU as lots of students migrate to the city from other states and seek admission.

The PIL filed by NGO Moksha Foundation through its president Dinesh Lalwani sought a direction to DU for adoption of a "new policy for reservation upto 85 percent of total seats available for Delhi domicile students in all 12 colleges funded by Delhi government with criteria of reservation for students passing qualifying exams from recognised schools located in the city from year 2014-15".

The plea said as per a survey, "in DU, only 25 percent of the total seats available are allocated to students from Delhi and balance 75 percent seats are allocated to students migrating to the city from other states".

It further claimed that due to a large number of applications received by the university from students from other states, the chances of Delhi students in getting admission are reduced drastically.

The plea asked the court to direct the government, UGC and DU to adopt new policy for reservation upto 5 percent seats available to Delhi domicile students in 16 colleges having mixed funding from UGC and state.