Overcrowding in Colleges may Jeopardize Careers of Young Students: Delhi HC on St. Stephen’s Issue

Overcrowding in Colleges: The Delhi High Court (Delhi HC) has said that over-allocation of seats in a college will not only create a burden on the limited available infrastructure, but will also impair the ability of the institution to provide quality education to its students.

The court’s observation was made during proceedings related to a request by St. Stephen’s College, which argued that Delhi University has allotted an excessive number of seats instead of following the approved intake of students.

According to the university, this was for convenience as generally not all students take admission, resulting in some seats remaining vacant.

“This Delhi HC is also of the view that the contention of the Appellant (Stephens College) that there has been excessive allocation by the University has not been rebutted with specificity by the University.

“This court would like the University to appreciate that additional allocation of seats in a college will not only create a burden on the limited infrastructure available but will also impair the ability of the college to provide quality education to its students. Such action can also jeopardize the careers of young students,” said a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela.

Although the order was issued on Thursday, it was made available on the court’s website on Friday.

The division bench was hearing the college’s appeal challenging the single judge’s interim order directing that six students be granted provisional admission as per the allotment by the university.

Advocate Mohinder JS Roopal, appearing for the university, said that the university has allotted only 5 per cent additional seats in the unreserved category in the college.

The court also pulled up the university for allotting more students (Overcrowding in Colleges) than the sanctioned number to the college.

 “The university should understand that they are playing with the careers of the students. You are not playing the game of chess you are ready for. This is a very serious matter,” the division bench said orally.

It said, “Don’t do this with students, it will affect their career. Please tell this to the university, as this is not good.

“We hope that a better understanding will be reached.” The single judge had granted relief to six graduate candidates by observing that they had passed the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) and completed other formalities.

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