Relief for 14 DU students as they get admission in preferred colleges

After weeks of uncertainty and anxiety, 16 Delhi University students, who were initially denied admission to St Stephen’s College, have now been allocated seats in their preferred colleges, thanks to a recent court decision.

The relief came after a two-Bench High Court ruling on Tuesday granted seven petitioners their rightful seats in St Stephen’s. This decision has had a domino effect, allowing the remaining students to secure admissions at other institutions on their preference list.

Tumpa Sinha, mother of Shruti Sinha, a single girl child applicant, expressed her elation. “DU finally did us justice. After weeks of uncertainty, my daughter will finally be able to go to college. She’ll be attending Miranda House, which was her fourth preference,” Sinha said, her voice filled with relief.

Villayat, who had applied under the orphan quota, was allocated a spot in Shaheed Bhagat Singh College. His happiness was palpable. “I’m grateful for this opportunity,” he said. “It’s a significant relief after all the uncertainty.”

Ananjeet Verma, who had supported the petitioners but did not file a plea himself, initially secured admission to Hindu College. However, his troubles continued as he was denied the seat once again on Friday.

His father expressed their concerns to The Tribune, stating, “We were thrilled that Ananjeet could finally attend college, but we encountered the same setback. While trying to finalise the fees and documents, the status changed from ‘documents verified’ to ‘documents yet to be verified’, leaving us back at square one.”

He added, “We contacted Nidhi, who handles admissions at Hindu College, and she informed us that the college was mistakenly allocated to us.”

The family plans to visit the DU campus again on Saturday to clarify the status of Ananjeet’s admission. Similarly, another student, Aryan, also faced the issue of being rejected twice after initially securing a seat at Hindu College, post the controversy.

The controversy began when St Stephen’s College initially refused to admit 23 students, citing full capacity and an over-enrolment of 5 per cent beyond their official limit. Of these students, seven took legal action to secure their places at the prestigious college.

Among those affected were 12 single girl children, three orphans and the remainder with unreserved seats. Only three of the single girl applicants who faced this hurdle pursued legal action and succeeded in securing their spots at St Stephen’s.