Relief to St. Stephen’s College Delhi: Supreme Court allows 85-15 formula for admissions of minority applicants

On August 21, 2023, the Supreme Court of India granted relief to St. Stephen’s College Delhi by refusing to entertain pleas filed by Delhi University and University Grant Commission challenging the Delhi High Court’s order to follow the 85-15 formula for adopting minority applicants. This formula illustrates that the admissions are on the basis of the University’s Common University Entrance Exam contributing 85% overall score and 15% were counted on the basis of performance in interviews. Yesterday, the SC was hearing an appeal against the order of the Delhi High Court illustrating that the college cannot give weightage to interviews for admission via non-reserved categories. After hearing the contentions, the bench allowed the College to give 15% weightage to interviews under the Christian Minority quota. The matter was heard by a two-judge bench constituting Justice AS Bopanna and Justice PS Narasimha. The bench ordered, “In view of the fact that the order impugned here is an interim order passed by the High Court in a pending writ petition and also since the High Court made the admissions subject to the final outcome of the writ petitions, at this stage, we see no reason to interfere. However, considering the need for certainty in the matter, we request the High Court to hear the parties' submissions and dispose of the petitions as expeditiously as possible.”

During the Court proceedings, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Delhi University argued that “This year, the University asked the college to admit minority students for the 50 percent reserved seats only on the basis of CUET marks. Minority institutions can definitely say they will enroll minorities, but they cannot insist on conducting interviews like this.” He requested the Supreme Court to set aside the High Court’s interim order and allow the admissions on the grounds of a scheme formulated by Delhi University. However, Senior Advocate A Mariarputham objected and informed the bench that the admission process for the 2023-24 academic session was over and all the candidates had been sent to Delhi University (mailed the students). He also said that the fees were submitted by the admitted candidates. To this Justice Narasimha told SG Mehta, “When the University itself is sending these letters to students, it will be unfair to the students now to interfere.” After hearing all the arguments, the SC bench refused to entertain the plea and allowed 15% marks for interviews in minority admissions.