The Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a petition from ST Stephen’s College challenging a Delhi High Court ruling directing it to obey the admissions policy of Delhi University, citing his alumni status at the school and the current “vitiated environment.”
On September 12, the Delhi High Court ordered the Christian minority institution to abide by 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.
“Given the current atmosphere, it would be difficult for this Court to take up the subject that poses a Constitutional question,” the bench stated in its order. “One of us (Hon. Sanjay Kishan Kaul, J.) has been an alumnus of the College.” Justice Kaul’s case was ordered to be heard by a different bench by the bench, which also included Justice Abhay S. Oka. “Learned Solicitor General maintains that no precipitative action would be done till the matters came up for hearing because learned counsel for the petitioner claims that there may be aggravating circumstances by tomorrow itself. Put the cases before the Honorable Chief Justice of India as soon as possible for the necessary orders.
Justice Kaul stated from the outset that he would not like to hear the college’s argument because he had previously attended the college and that the “current vitiated environment” was present. “The environment has gotten so vitiated that it is challenging for us. What I shall govern over and how I will rule are irrelevant to me. What can be done, nevertheless… It concerns how to read the constitution. It is an issue that cannot be resolved. It will need to be decided how it will be read, the judge said orally.
The minority institution’s senior attorney, Kapil Sibal, cited the fact that the former Chief Justice of India, B N Kirpal, did not recuse himself from hearing the TMA Pai case involving minority educational rights despite being a graduate of the college and stated that he has no objections if the Justice Kaul-led Bench proceeds with the hearing. The judge explained, “That is why I indicated because of the environment today… The senior attorney then begged the bench to ask the DU to hold its hand regarding the admissions procedure, which was coming to a close on Monday at 5 o’clock.
The bench commanded, “Hold your hand till Monday, we will tell them. I will see to it that it reaches the Chief Justice today itself. During my lunch break, I will sign the order copy, Justice Kaul remarked. In his appearance on behalf of DU, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta pleaded with the court not to include this in the order and promised to inform Delhi University not to take any hasty decisions until the petition is heard.
The top court had previously ruled that non-minorities cannot be granted the constitutional privileges granted to a minority institution. It had instructed St. Stephen’s College to abide by Delhi University’s admissions policy and give the CUET-2022 score 100 percent consideration while admitting non-minority applicants to its undergraduate programmes. For the admission of Christian students, it had been stated that the college had the ability to conduct interviews in addition to the Common University Entrance Test (CUET), but it could not require non-minority applicants to also participate in an interview.
However, the HC bench ruled that the DU “cannot insist upon a single merit list for admission of candidates belonging to the Christian community regardless of denomination etc.” while asking St Stephen’s to withdraw its prospectus giving 15% weightage to interview for admission to these unreserved seats. The high court’s decision was based on petitions that were filed by a law student and the college regarding the validity of the admissions process for students against unreserved non-minority seats for undergraduate courses.
