In a significant judgement, the Delhi High Court has ruled that students belonging to communities, which are not included in the Delhi list of Scheduled Castes (SC), will not be entitled to admission in Guru Gobind Singh College of Indraprastha University (IP) against the seats reserved for the category.
The court also made it clear that only those SC students who are residents of Delhi can get admission to the university. Disposing of a batch of petitions filed by a group of students, who were denied admission under the SC quota, Justice VK Jain said, "The candidates belonging to the communities, which are not included in the list of Scheduled Castes (SC) for Delhi in the Presidential order will not be entitled to admission in IP University against the seats reserved for SC candidates."
"The candidates, belonging to the communities included in the list of Scheduled Castes in the Presidential order in relation to Delhi, will be entitled to be considered for admission to IP University, against the seats reserved for SC candidates only if they are residents of Delhi in terms of the Presidential order of September 20, 1951, as amended from time to time, by the law made in this regard," the court also said. A group of SC students had approached the High Court after they were denied admission by the university on the grounds that their caste certificates failed to show that they or their parents were permanent residents of the city.
According to the university, the petitioners were issued SC certificates by the office of concerned Deputy Commissioner of Delhi on the basis of the caste certificates issued to their respective fathers by the State in which their respective communities were notified as a Scheduled Caste. The certificates issued to the petitioners, however, do not disclose where they or their respective parents were permanently residing at the time of issue of Presidential Notification under Article 341 of the Constitution, the university also said.