As DU stands firm, no end to impasse on Stephen’s entries
NEW DELHI: Amid an ongoing tussle between Delhi University (DU) and St Stephen’s College over conducting interviews for admissions, DU officials on Friday said that the varsity is firm on its decision that admissions for unreserved seats should be solely based on the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores.
DU registrar Vikas Gupta said that the varsity will write to the college on Monday and maintained that the university will not accept admissions conducted in violation of its admission policy.
“We will write to the college on Monday and inform them that it needs to follow the admission process of the university. Our stand is the same as before. Admission to unreserved seats needs to be done through CUET scores alone. There will be no interview component for general seats. Admission in violation of DU’S policy will not be accepted,” said Gupta.
DU and St Stephen’s College has been at loggerheads over the 2022-23 admission policy. While DU’S new policy seeks doing away with interviews and considering only the CUET score for admissions to 50% unreserved seats, St Stephen’s insists on giving 15% weightage to interviews for all admissions.
Earlier on Thursday, St Stephen’s
College principal John Varghese wrote to DU, refusing to do away with the interview process for all candidates, maintaining that it will continue to “retain its stellar, tried, and trusted interview process” for admissions.
Varghese also pointed out that the Constitution bench of the Supreme Court in 1992 had stated “St Stephen’s, as a Chrisat-home tian minority institution, has its own admission procedures approved by the highest court in the land and guaranteed by the Constitution of India.” On Tuesday, DU had informed St Stephen’s that it will annul all admissions made by the college in violation of the CUET guidelines, in response to a prospectus released by the institute. In the prospectus, the college stated that it will adopt give 85% weightage to CUET scores and 15% to personal interviews.
As per the prevailing policy, 50% of seats in minority colleges are reserved for students belonging to the community which runs the institution.
St Stephen’s College and Jesus and Mary College are two Christian minority institutions under Delhi University. St Stephen’s is the only college in DU that conducts interviews for admitting students. The college has maintained that it reserves the right to admit students as per its own admission policy given that it is a minority institution.
The college first issued a circular in April stating that it will provide admissions based on the 85:15 formula for all seat categories, which led to the ongoing tussle with the university.