High Court Asked To Take Into Account St Stephen's Petition Regarding Minority Quota Admissions

The Delhi High Court has been ordered by the Supreme Court to consider a petition brought by St. Stephen's College in Delhi against a high court judgement directing it to abide by Delhi University's admissions policy with the "requisite urgency."

On September 12 of last year, the Delhi High Court ordered the Christian minority institution to abide by the Delhi University's admissions policy, which stipulates that the Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-2022 score must be given 100 percent weight when non-minority students are admitted to its undergraduate programmes.

The top court had ruled that the college could not interview applicants who did not fall into a minority group and that admission should be based only on CUET results.

The high court has the authority to hear the case, according to a panel comprising Justices BR Gavai and JB Pardiwala. The high court also stated in its ruling from last year that non-minorities cannot be granted the rights granted to a minority organisation under the Constitution.

It had stated that while the college has the power to require non-minority applicants to also appear for an interview in addition to the CUET score for admission, it has no such power for Christian students.