Delhi High Court allows 7 students to enrol at St. Stephen’s College

Delhi High Court allows seven students to attend St. Stephen's College classes, halts further seat allocation by DU.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ruled that the admissions of seven students, who were allowed by the court last week to enrol at St. Stephen’s College, will remain unaffected.

A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, however, asked Delhi University (DU) not to allocate any more seats at St. Stephen’s for the current academic session.

“The seven students who had approached the court are permitted to attend the classes till further orders. However, it is directed that the university shall not make any further allocation,” the Bench said.

The case stems from a policy dispute between DU and the college. St. Stephen’s had put the admissions of a total of 22 students on hold, terming them “extra allocations” by the university. Seven of the affected students had approached the High Court. On August 23, a single-judge Bench of the High Court granted provisional admission to the students. The college filed an appeal against the order, following which the students were barred from attending classes. The matter was heard again by the court’s single Bench, which, on September 6, asked St. Stephen’s to admit the seven students. On Monday, the college filed an appeal against the single-judge Bench.

The two-judge Bench also issued notice and sought a response from the university on St. Stephen’s appeal challenging the September 6 order.

The court asked them to file the reply within four weeks and listed the matter for further hearing on January 28 next year.