A plea has been filed in the Delhi high court seeking reservation of up to 85 per cent of total seats for Delhi domicile students in all colleges funded by the state government.
In the petition filed before a bench of Acting Chief Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Vibhu Bakhru, Moksha Foundation sought direction to the Centre and the state government to “adopt a new policy for reservation of upto 85 per cent of total seats available for Delhi domicile students in all 12 colleges funded by Delhi government”. It should be done with a criteria for reservation for students passing the qualifying examination from recognised schools located within Delhi with effect from academic year 2014-15, the PIL said.
Besides the Delhi government and the Centre, the petition has also been filed against the Delhi University (DU) and the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The 12 colleges where it sought reservation include Deen Dayal Upadhaya College, Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Maharaja Agrasen College, Shaheed Raj Guru College and Shaheed Sukhdev College. It also sought direction “to adopt a new policy for reservation of upto five per cent of total seats available for Delhi domicile students in all colleges having mixed funding by UGC and GNCTD”. It sought a direction to give five per cent relaxation in cut-off marks to female students in under-graduate courses in all colleges under the Delhi University.
The petitioner said the students passing Class 12 from government schools or other poor students are deprived of the opportunity to study in DU colleges and the “bonafide residents of Delhi are arbitrarily and unjustifiably being denied admission to DU colleges due to limited avenues”. The plea said that their fundamental right to education is being violated on account of failure of the government to frame any guidelines to safeguard the interest of the Delhi domicile students.