Plea in HC to consider all 8th schedule languages to calculate 'best of four' marks for DU admission

The Delhi High Court has sought the Centre and DU's responses on some Kerala-based students' plea to consider all the languages, including Malayalam, given in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution to calculate ''best of four'' marks for admission to colleges in the university.

Justice Siddharth Mridul issued notice to the Ministry of Human Resources Development and Delhi University (DU) and sought their stand on the petition which contended that the university's selection criteria was "arbitrary and irrational".

Six Kerala-based students, represented by advocates Jose Abraham and M P Srivignesh, said that the calculation of ''best of four'' marks is restricted only to the subjects mentioned in the varsity prospectus -- Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali and Punjabi languages.

The other languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution are excluded and if any other subject, other than those mentioned in the prospectus, is considered for calculating ''best of four'', there is a deduction of 2.5 per cent in the aggregate score, the petition said.

"This causes much discomfiture for those students who chose their regional language for the board exams as elective subjects and have scored high in the same.

"The illogical and arbitrary exclusion of most of the regional languages by a Central University is an infringement on the fundamental rights guaranteed under Constitution," the students argued in their plea which was listed for further hearing on November 26.

The petition alleged lack of uniformity in the admission process followed by the colleges affiliated to DU.

It claimed that while most colleges consider languages such as Malayalam and Tamil -- which are not part of the list considered by the university for calculation of ''best of four'' subjects -- with 2.5 per cent deduction, some do not accept the languages at all.