St Stephen’s College has decided to challenge in the Supreme Court last week’s Delhi High Court order that asked it to follow Delhi University’s admission policy and take in undergraduate students in the non-minority category solely on the basis of Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores.

The college governing body on Tuesday decided to challenge the judgment, ruling out the minority opinion of five members that St Stephen’s should follow the high court order at the moment to avoid further delaying the admission process, already running late because of the glitches that blighted the maiden CUET.

Last week, the high court had ordered St Stephen’s College to issue a fresh prospectus giving 100 per cent weightage to CUET scores while admitting non-minority students to undergraduate courses.

St Stephen’s has been fighting DU over the admission process following the university’s order to all affiliated colleges to take in students on the basis of CUET scores alone. At St Stephen’s, half the seats are reserved for Christians while the other half are for non-Christians.

The college has been insisting on giving 85 per cent weightage to CUET scores and 15 per cent to its own interview of non-Christian applicants, citing its minority institution status to assert its right to take such decisions independently. There is no dispute over the 85:15 formula in the case of Christian candidates.

DU has begun the admission process and will allocate students to colleges based on their CUET scores. However, it is up to the college to admit individual students, a DU official said.

At the St Stephen’s governing body meeting on Tuesday, two representatives of the university and three representatives of the college suggested the college follow the high court judgment for this year to avoid further delay in admissions. They contended that the college can always challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court after the admission process ends, for a ruling on what process to follow in subsequent years.

However, the 17-member governing body, chaired by the Bishop of the Diocese of Delhi, overruled this view and decided to challenge the high court verdict in the Supreme Court.

Usually, college admissions take place in July.

“Now the matter will go to the Supreme Court. If there is a stay on the high court judgment, the admission process will be smooth. But if there is a delay in hearing or no stay is granted, the college will be in a fix over admissions,” a DU official said.

Principal talks

Two members of the St Stephen’s governing council on Tuesday demanded a discussion on DU’s letters holding the reappointment of principal John Varghese to be illegal.

The norms of the University Grants Commission, as adopted by DU, provide for a reappointment only after a review of the principal’s performance in the first term. No review was conducted by St Stephen’s after Varghese’s first term ended, so his reappointment is illegal, the university has said.

The governing body chairman said the matter of reappointment would be discussed by the supreme council that governs the college.