Quota: HC asks Centre, colleges to reply to PIL of SC student

"Issue notice. Let an affidavit be filed within a week, List the matter for hearing on July 31," a bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Anil Kumar said after the petitioner contended that the provision was in violation of his fundamental rights.

The PIL has been filed by the father of the minor student Vished, who has challenged the provisions of the Delhi Professional Colleges or Institution (Prohibition of Capitation Fee, Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Non Exploitive Fee and Other Measures to Ensure Equity and Excellence) Act (DPCIA).

Vished, a city-based SC student who appeared in AIEEE examination for getting admission in B Tech course in Delhi colleges, is being denied admission under reserved category as the DPCIA provides that the such students must pass qualifying 12th exam from a school in the capital, the PIL said.

The student, who passed his 12th exam from a school at Ghaziabad as his parents, working in I-T department, lived there in government accommodation, also cannot claim admission under quota outside the city because of his Delhi domicile as it has been held "impermissible" by the Supreme Court, it said.

"It is a strange case, where a SC candidate is not getting the benefit of quota in his home state because of the DPCI Act which said that he should pass qualifying exam from Delhi and outside the state also he cannot get the benefit of reservation," the lawyer for the student said.

Besides the Centre, the court also asked the Directorate of Higher Education, Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University and two Delhi-based engineering colleges to file replies. (More)