The Delhi High Court on Monday reaffirmed its previous order, allowing a minority category student to attend classes at St Stephen’s College amid an ongoing seat allocation dispute with Delhi University (DU). The bench, comprising Justices Yashwant Varma and Dharmesh Sharma, declined DU’s request to recall the order which the university argued was issued under a misapprehension that the student was already attending classes.
In its decision on October 28, the court had permitted the student to continue attending classes pending further orders, in response to a plea filed by the student and the college against a single-judge’s ruling that denied him admission. The university had contested the admission, claiming that St Stephen’s had not adhered to the proper seat matrix and had acted on “its whims and fancies.”
The bench, however, found no merit in the university’s claim that it had been misled, noting that there was no substantial evidence presented to support such an assertion. “We find no justification to grant the prayer of recall,” the justices stated, thereby upholding the student’s right to attend classes as previously directed.
During Monday’s proceedings, it was also disclosed that the student had been formally granted admission following the court’s intervention. The court emphasized that unless its directive was formally recalled, DU was obligated to comply with it.
St Stephen’s College defended its admission process, asserting that the enrollment of the 19 students, including the one in question, was within the allowed “sanctioned intake” and that the institution had not exceeded its permissible limit.
