Admission to a course cannot be denied only on account of a candidate's age if it is not barred under an institution's rules, the Delhi High Court has said and directed Jamia Milia Islamia to admit a 46-year-old woman for B.Ed course within a week.
Allowing one Sunita Rani's plea against Jamia's denial for admission in the current academic session, Justice V K Jain said, "I find no logic behind denying admission to the B Ed course only on account of age of a candidate, when the university statute does not bar such admissions."
"The endeavour of a university, in my view, should be to impart higher education to as many as persons as is possible, instead of insisting upon a particular age limit for the purpose of admission to a course of study with the university."
In her plea, Rani said her candidature was rejected by the university on the ground that there was a long gap of more than 3 years between her passing out Master degree in English (1992) from Delhi University and seeking admission in B Ed.
The court rejected Jamia counsel's argument that since there was a gap of more than 21 years between the last education of the petitioner (Rani) which she completed in the year 1992 and her seeking admission to the B Ed course, the university did not allow the admission to her.
Further the court rejected the argument that the petitioner was not eligible for being employed as a teacher, in any government school/college, no useful purpose would have been served by granting admission to her in the course.
