Irked by St Stephens' 85:15 policy, Delhi Univ threatens to nullify all admissions

The prestigious St Stephens College in Delhi is sticking to its policy of 85:15 for admissions to all undergraduate courses, triggering strong censure from Delhi University, which has even warned that it will annul all admissions done under such a policy and will not be held responsible for the consequences.

Under the 85:15 policy, Stephens will accord 85 per cent weightage to the CUET test score and 15 per cent to physical interview for admissions to all categories of candidates.

The University Grants Commission has decided to hold a Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for admission to all central universities for academic session 2022-23.

The Delhi University, under which St Stephens comes, has advised all colleges to admit students based on the CUET scores alone and have interviews only for reserved category students.

Also read: Delhi University to start admission process for UG courses from Monday

In a letter to St Stephens Principal John Varghese, the varsity’s registrar Vikas Gupta said any admission done in violation of the admission norms will not be recognised and will be treated as annulled for all purposes.

“This is in clear violation of the admission policies approved by the Statutory Bodies of the University of Delhi. You must withdraw the Admission Prospectus containing such incongruent policy from the website of your college immediately,” he said.

He asked the college to issue a public notice stating clearly that the approved admission policies of the University shall be applicable for admissions into various courses to be offered by the St. Stephens College for the UG programmes for session 2022-2023.

Gupta said the University of Delhi will not be responsible for any “consequential impact on the life and career of the candidates admitted in your college in violation of the University admission policy”.

The prospectus for the undergraduate courses 2022-23 stated, “St Stephens College will adopt the CUET as the eligibility criteria with 85 per cent weightage for CUET and the colleges interview for shortlisted candidates with a weightage of 15 per cent.”

St. Stephens College is sticking to its policy, asserting its minority institution character. The college has earlier said that it reserves the right to proceed with admissions in accordance with its own admission policy guaranteed to it as a minority institution.