HC stays JNU Mphil admissions for disabled

NEWDELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday stayed admission to M.phil and PHD courses in the five per cent unfilled seats for students with disability in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

A bench of acting chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said, “JNU shall stand prohibited from effecting admission to the five per cent unfilled seats for students with disability courses.”

The bench, which was informed that the academic session will commence in the latter part of July, listed the matter for hearing on May 21 by when the interim stay shall continue.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by National Federation of the Blind challenging the admission policy of JNU for the academic session 2018-19 saying it stipulates 100 per cent weightage to the viva for M.phil/ph.d voce examination which is unfair. The court also sought response of the Centre and the JNU on the petition.

The petitioner also challenged the decision of the university not to grant any weightage to the written examination and alleged it had failed to grant any relaxation to persons with disabilities in the entrance examination despite statutory prescription. It said that as per the brochure, five per cent of the total seats for the M.phil/phd courses have to be kept reserved for persons with disabilities.

Senior advocate SK Rungta, appearing for the federation, said these decisions and stipulations by the university are unconstitutional, contrary to the specific statutory provision.

He said if the varsity is permitted to effectuate admission based on such a policy and incidents, grave and irreparable loss would be caused to the interests of the disabled students.