Petitions have approached the Delhi High Court over the University of Delhi’s (DU) admission policy for its 2026-27 one-year PG programs.
As reported by The New Indian Express, one of the primary issues raised in the petitions is the preference provided by the university to candidates with a four-year Honours degree over those with a general or programme degree. The petitioners have challenged the university’s admission policy under the Programme-Specific Eligibility (PSE) framework.
Under the PSE framework, candidates with a four-year Honours degree are placed in Priority 1 (P1). In contrast, candidates with a programme degree or general degree are placed in lower priority levels, i.e. P2, P3, or P4. The petitioners have raised concerns regarding fairness and transparency in the postgraduate admissions process.
There are other concerns raised by the petitioners that include lack of clear merit lists, inadequate information regarding seats available and uncertainty regarding the admission procedure. The candidates are anxious that a lack of further admission rounds could potentially result in a seat not being filled.
This dispute has also made its way to the courts through individual petitions. On 10 September 2026, the Delhi High Court recorded an order concerning the challenge to DU’s rules of admission, which include providing preferential treatment to four-year Honours graduates over students with four-year undergraduate degrees with a Major. The court issued notice to the university to respond, and the order did not determine the final validity of the policy.
This controversy has occurred while DU is in the process of adding one-year master’s programs to its existing two-year postgraduate programs as part of the implementation of the four-year undergraduate framework outlined in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The official postgraduate admission portal of the university has information about the admission process and eligibility criteria for 2026-27.
The outcomes of these cases will be important for the students who are adjusting to the changed academic scenarios. The dispute goes beyond the length of a particular degree and addresses other important aspects such as merit, eligibility and equitable access to postgraduate education.
Image credits: India Today
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Aeera Aroush Khan