In response to a plea from St Stephen's College regarding the admission of minority students, the Delhi High Court (HC) has ruled that the college cannot unilaterally alter its seat matrix simply because it is a minority institution.
As per a report by LiveLaw.in, the court emphasised that minority institutions do not possess unrestricted powers under Article 30 of the Indian Constitution to disregard the policies set by their affiliated universities.
A single judge bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma was considering the college's petition which sought directions to the Delhi University (DU) to approve and upload the list of Christian minority students forwarded by it on the Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS) admissions portal. It sought admission of 19 Christian students to its BA programmes.
The high court noted that for the 2024-25 academic year, the college introduced 13 BA programme combinations.
The court referenced a previous ruling in the case of Hargun Singh Ahluwalia vs Delhi University, which established that these programmes have separate seat matrices that both the college and DU must adhere to.
The court concluded that St Stephen's College, as an aided minority institution, does not have absolute discretion to diverge from university policies. Consequently, the college cannot change its seat matrix to accommodate Christian students based solely on their minority status.
In terms of admissions, DU's affidavit indicated that 14 students were eligible based on the college's adherence to the seat matrix. The court ruled that these 14 students were entitled to admission to the BA programmes.
For the remaining students, the court applied the principles from the Hargun Singh Ahluwalia case, affirming that the BA programmes are separate.
“Therefore, this Court is of the opinion that St. Stephen College, being an aided minority educational institute also, cannot claim to have absolute unbridled powers to exercise discretion against the policies framed by the University to which it is affiliated,” the court noted.
Ultimately, the court ruled that 18 out of the 19 students are entitled to admission at St Stephen's College, LiveLaw.in added.
