Delhi HC Grants Admission To 18 Christian Students At St Stephen's College

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday granted admission to 18 Christian students in the St Stephen's College of the Delhi University (DU).

The court said the students will be able to attend their classes from Tuesday.

Judgment Pronounced

The court pronounced the judgment on a petition filed by St Stephen's seeking directions to the DU to approve and upload the list of all Christian candidates forwarded to it by the college.

The college had sought directions from the university to open the fee-payment portal for 19 Christian students.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said the court is happy that 18 of the 19 students are entitled to get admission to St Stephen's College, according to their merit.

The court noted that the DU, in its affidavit, had already submitted that 14 of the 19 students were eligible for the BA programme concerned.

Observation Made By The Court

"Further, this court is of the opinion that whether the litigation is by a few or all the affected students, in the eyes of law, they are just students who are looking for a future for themselves in an educational institute. And whether they are minority or non-minority is of no value....

"At the end of it all, they are proud citizens of this proud country," the judge said.

"The case ends on a positive note that 18 out of the 19 students in this case have got admission in the St Stephen's college of their choice," he added.

The DU had initially opposed the admission of the 19 students selected by St Stephen's under the Christian quota, saying the college allocated seats without adhering to the seat matrix and "as per its whims and fancies".

The college had said the admission of the 19 students was within the "sanctioned intake" and it had not exceeded its permissible limit.