DU-St Stephen's admission row: College in "gross violation" of its constitution, says Assistant Prof

A faculty member from St Stephen's College on Tuesday, July 12, said that the college undermined its own constitution when it engaged in a legal battle with Delhi University (DU) without consulting the college governing body.

It was Assistant Professor Nandita Narain from St Stephen's College who levelled this charge. In a letter to the governing body chairperson, the Assistant Professor stated that this move by the college is a "gross violation" of its constitution.

Nandita Narain is also a member of the governing body. In a letter to Bishop Prem Chand Singh, she also asked if the college followed the procedure for the reappointment of Principal John Varghese.

Only recently, St Stephen's College had filed a writ petition challenging a letter by Delhi University to it that asked to withdraw its prospectus for the undergraduate courses for the academic year 2022-23.

As per the newly-brought entrance-based admission system, the college was asked to admit students giving 85 per cent weightage to CUET and 15 per cent weightage to college interview for its unreserved seats.

It was only last week that the National Testing Agency (NTA) had announced that the Common University Entrance Test, or CUET-UG, will be conducted from July 15 to August 10.

Narain in her letter called it surprising that the governing body was not informed by the college about its decision to file a writ petition against the university.

"Initiation of legal proceedings in the matter of admissions without the prior approval of the College Governing body is, in my view, in gross violation of Clause 15 of our College Constitution," she wrote.

In the same letter, Assistant Professor Narain also asked whether the college had followed the UGC Regulations 2010, when it reappointed Principal John Varghese for another term after the completion of his five-year-tenure on February 28, 2021.

"Whether the college followed the procedure laid down for re-appointment of Principal after the expiry of five-year term on February 28, 2021?" she asked.

However, she said, that in another earlier meeting, Varghese had responded to the same question saying that the five-year term regulation had been adopted by DU only after his initial appointment as Principal on March 1, 2016, and the ruling could not be applied to him retrospectively.