St. Stephens is a Christian minority educational institution in Delhi. It is affiliated to Delhi University. This means that the students get their degrees from Delhi University.
Starting this year, Delhi University has based its admissions, not on Board marks, but on a Common Admission Test called CUET – Central University Entrance Test. It is conducted by the National Testing Agency.
St. Stephens, which is one of the most well-known colleges of the University, refused to use this guideline. They wanted to keep 85% weightage with CUET and 15% weightage to the scores of a personal interview with each prospective student.
Delhi University said that this is not permissible and all admissions that do not follow its indicated process will be null and void (i.e., these students will not get their degrees from Delhi University). However, St. Stephens was allowed to conduct interviews for the admission of Christian students (which is 50% of its intake). Only the general category students needed to be taken as per the guidelines issued by the University.
St. Stephens filed a case in High Court.
The High Court ruled on September 12 that the Delhi University team is right. The college cannot unilaterally change the admission guidelines under the university.
However, the governing body of St. Stephens met on September 20th and has announced that it will file an appeal in the Supreme Court against this decision. This means that students may not be able to apply to St. Stephens for this academic year. The second round of applications is due to open on September 26.
Some other issues
St. Stephens has had some other issues with the university and with its teachers as well.
Rev. Valson Thampu, the Principal from 2008 to 2016, has had several occasions on which there was a disagreement with the staff and students.
Rev. John Varghese, the current Principal
Rev. John Varghese took over from Rev. Thampu in 2016. After his term ended in 2021, the Supreme Council of the college decided to give him a second term. This was against the UGC norms. According to the UGC norms, the term of a principal is 5 years. They can be given a second term, but only if they qualify again in the recruitment and selection process.
For Rev. Varghese, the Supreme Council took a unilateral decision to extend the tenure. Since this is against the rules, Delhi University has said that it has no choice but to invalidate the appointment. The college has refused to follow the rules and conduct a selection process.
The Governing Body decides
The Governing Body of the college is made up of 17 members. One of these members is not recognised by the University. Above the governing body is the Supreme Council. The Supreme Council is made up of the members of the Church of North India, as per the rules of the institution.
During the meeting to decide whether to challenge the High Court decision, 12 members agreed that the Supreme Court case should be filed, while 5 thought it was not a good idea.
Supreme Court Rules: Update on October 19 2022
On October 19, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that St. Stephens cannot violate the process of Delhi University. This means that the 50% students in general category will be admitted on the basis of CUET only. The college cannot conduct interviews for these seats.
The college has been asked to issue a fresh prospectus and a public notification informing students of this change.
Christian minority students, who fill up 50% of the total seats, can be admitted on an 85:15 principle – 85% weightage to CUET and 15% to the interview.