Allow Cookies!
By using our website, you agree to the use of cookies
Nandita Narain, an Associate Professor in the college, filed a petition alleging large-scale discrepancies in the cut-off marks for Christian Scheduled Tribes (CST), Christian Others (COTH), and Christian Physically Handicapped (CPH) applicants for admission to undergraduate courses in St Stephen's College, New Delhi. Division Bench comprising of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the college. The petitioner has alleged that the cut-off marks for Christian Reserved Category area artificially high and illegal. Also, contended that the College is guilty of "having neglected its own guidelines" in declaring the cut-off marks thereby denying admission to such candidates. It is also explained that, “the cut off marks were kept at a very high level for CSTs, CPH non-Christian SC/ST/PH candidates by not calling for the interview and written exam the prescribed number of candidates who would normally fall within the zone of consideration as specified in clause 11 of the Guidelines set out above. Clause 11 specifies that the candidates called for the interview and the written exam should be in a certain ratio to the number of seats available. The effect of clause 11 is that the candidate with the lowest marks in the zone of consideration determines the cut off marks. Thus if the number of candidates called for the interview and the written exam are lower than the prescribed ratio, the cut off marks would be higher." The petitioner has also alleged that there are discrepancies in the interview and written exam scheduled for the course B.A. Economics (h) on july 5th. Thus "fears" that the discrepancies are "deliberate and malafide", arising out of a "hidden agenda" decided upon by the Principal of St Stephens College, Prof. John Varghese. The lack of transparency in the declaration of the list of the students called for interviews and written exam in each category has also been brought to the Court's notice as violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. Therefore, we seek to quash the decision regarding the cut-off marks for the academic year 2019-20 for Christain students belonging to Reserved category. It further seeks direction to St Stephen's College to rework and re-notify the cut-off marks for such candidates for all streams in accordance with the Guidelines. The HC has issued notice and the matter would be heard on july 11th.
86540
103860
630
114
59824