The Delhi High Court says that rule may be reconsidered if petitioner succeeds in petition.
The Delhi High Court has issued a notice with respect to a matter presented to it on 26th June 2019 regarding a plea challenging the rule mandating deduction of 2.5% from the total percentage of a candidate in best four subjects in case of change of stream while securing admission in the University of Delhi (DU).
The rule mentioned in section 2.2 of the Undergraduate Bulletin of Information 2019-20 states that if a student is changing streams and aspiring for admission to the University in a subject that they did not study at the senior secondary level, a deduction of 2.5% from their Best of Four percentage would be considered as their score for making it to the cut-offs; a notion that puts many students at a disadvantage keeping in view the high scores required to secure a seat in the University.
Petitioner Muskan Aggarwal, a student from the science stream, has achieved a score of 96% in the class 12th CBSE Board Examinations and wants to pursue B.A. (Hons.) Political Science from DU.
It is her case that the rule mandating deduction in the percentage of marks in case of a change in the stream is “arbitrary, discriminatory and baseless”. She cites the rationale to support her argument that if a student is scoring well then they should have the opportunity to study any subject of their choice. The Court had directed the University to file a response to the plea within a week’s time.
The University maintains that this rule has been clarified in the earlier ruling of the High Court with respect to admissions criteria for this academic year (W.P. C No.6751/2019 passed on June 14th. 2019). Keeping in view the petitioner’s vehement dispute regarding this claim, the Vacation Bench of Honorable Justice Jyoti Singh has issued the notice regarding further hearing of this matter on 5th July 2019 before the Regular Bench of the High Court.
The High Court has also clarified that the petitioner, if successful in her petition, would be granted admission as per her final marks and corresponding ranking in the merit list.
Feature Image Credits: New Indian Express
Bhavya Pandey