Delhi HC directs St. Stephens to admit students on basis of CUET scores only

New Delhi: Delhi High Court gave its verdict that admissions to St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, will take place by the means of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET). Earlier, St. Stephens, on grounds of its minority status, demanded separate admission criteria from other colleges under DU. The court said that the college needs to give 100% weightage to CUET scores for upcoming undergraduate admissions.

The college argued that it is eligible to accord its own admission criteria. Following this, St. Stephens released its prospectus, stating that admission to the college would be done on the basis of the CUET score plus an interview of the student. During the admissions, 15% weightage would be given to the interview round and the rest is for CUET. The court has ordered the college to withdraw its prospectus from the website.

Delhi University maintained that St. Stephens would have to follow the university’s criteria, which is 100% weightage to CUET. This led to the college filing a case in court. Delhi High Court issued a stay in the order and now ordered in favour of DU.

The bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad asked the college to remove the interview from the admissions. The court order reads, “The communication dated May 9, 2022 issued by Delhi university is set aside to the extend that St Stephen’s College must follow the directive that 100 per cent weightage must be given to CUET 2022 score for admission to students belonging to non-minority category applying to under-graduate course.”

The court also understood the argument presented by the college and directed the university to not insist on a single merit list for admission to the minority community.