Vatsal Goswami v. Delhi University

1. The appellant has filed the present appeal impugning the judgment dated 27.11.2024 (hereafter the impugned judgement) rendered by the learned Single Judge of this court in W.P.(C) No.15706/2024 captioned Vatsal Goswami v. Delhi University through its Dean, Admissions.

2. The appellant has filed the said petition praying that directions be issued to the respondent – Delhi University (DU) to grant admission to the appellant against the vacant seats in the course of M.Sc. Statistics or in the alternative in M.Sc. Operational Research (hereafter courses in question).

3. The appellant had not participated in the Common University Entrance Tests – Post Graduation [hereafter CUET (PG)] exam and therefore, was not eligible for participating in the admission process for the courses in question. The admissions were granted to the students who had participated in the CUET(PG) exam on the basis of their Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores. However, the appellant rests his case on the Circular dated 07.06.2024 issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in regard to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Central Universities to fill up the vacant seats. The appellant claims that since seats are vacant in the courses in question, he is entitled to admission to University of Delhi (DU) in those courses.

4. The aforementioned Circular is reproduced below: “D.O. No. F. 22-8/2023 (CU) June 7, 2024 Subject: Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Central Universities to fill up their vacant seats-reg. It has come to the notice of UGC that a good number of seats at times remain vacant even after three or four rounds of counselling in some of the Central Universities and their constituent/affiliated colleges. To keep the seats vacant for an entire academic year is not only a waste of resources but also results in denial of quality higher education to many students who aspire to pursue higher studies in Central Universities. University Grants Commission in its 572nd Meeting, held on 20th September 2023 approved a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to facilitate the Central Universities to fill up their vacant seats. SOPs are enclosed herewith for appropriate action at your end. It may also be pertinent to mention here that CUET scores will remain the primary criteria for admitting students. In fact, UGC has already written to all the Central Universities to admit students through CUET.”

5. It is the appellant’s case that there were vacant seats after allocating the same to the candidates on the basis of their CUET scores and therefore, the said seats were required to be filled in accordance with the aforementioned Circular. The appellant submits that admission for filling the vacant seats was closed on 03.09.2024 and as on that date, all seats had not been filled up.

6. The learned counsel appearing for DU countered the said contention and contended that all seats were allocated at the final round of counselling. It is relevant to refer to the said counter affidavit filed on behalf of DU. The relevant extracts of the same are set out below:

7. It is apparent from the above that DU has made an unequivocal statement that the final round of PG admission (Spot Round) was announced on 25.08.2024 and all vacant seats in respect of the same were allocated on that date. Thus, there remained no vacancies as on the date of the spot counselling.

8. Plainly, this is not a case where DU has exhausted the admission of students on the basis of their score in CUET (PG) and still hold vacant seats. It is unequivocally affirmed in the counter affidavit filed by DU in the writ petition that the list of the students who had appeared in the CUET (PG) examination and aspirants of the course in question, was not exhausted.

9. The fact that certain seats had remained vacant on account of some of the students not joining the course after admission had been closed would not entitle the appellant to seek an admission against those vacant seats.

10. The opening sentence of the Circular dated 07.06.2024 issued by the UGC indicates that it seeks to address the issue where the number of seats have remained vacant after three or four rounds of counselling. Therefore, if some seats are not filled up in the counselling session, the Circular issued by the UGC requires the universities to fill up those seats by giving admission to other students notwithstanding the fact that they may not have participated in the CUET (PG) examination. The Circular has little application in a case where all seats are allocated in the counselling rounds as is affirmed in this case.

11. It is also material to note that the UGC Circular also expressly provides that CUET scores would remain the primary criteria for admitting the students. As noticed above, in this case, there are number of students who have participated in the CUET (PG) exam but had remained unsuccessful in the allocation of seats on account of the same being filled up on the spot round held on 25.08.2024.

12. In the aforesaid context, the learned Single Judge had held that the decision regarding vacant seats, on account of the students not joining after the last date of admission – as has been informed to the appellant pursuant to the application filed by the appellant under the Right to Information Act, 2005 – could not be looked into at this stage. Paragraph 9 of the impugned judgment is set out below:

13. We concur with the aforesaid decision of the learned Single Judge and find no infirmity in the impugned judgment rendered by the learned Single Judge.