Merit position in DU admissions could change after CBSE re-evaluation: HC

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Delhi University (DU) to inform students seeking admissions in undergraduate courses that their "merit position could change" depending on the marks obtained by some students who have applied for re-evaluation of Class 12 answer sheets.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said that the admissions effected at DU will be subject to the outcome of the petition filed by some students for re-evaluation, which is pending before it.

"It is directed that the admissions effected pursuant to CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) examination conducted in March/April 2017 shall be subject to the final outcome of the present writ petition.

"As a matter of abundant caution, the students who are seeking admission as well as the colleges need to be kept informed about the pendency of the present writ petition and the fact that the process of re-evaluation of marks by the CBSE on the request of some of the students is underway," said the order.

The court said after re-evaluation, the merit position of the students could change substantially and it will be the responsibility of DU to make public as well as inform all the colleges regarding this position and to put the students, seeking admission to the courses, to notice about it.

Last week, the court had lifted all conditions imposed by the CBSE on students seeking to re-evaluate Class 12 answer sheets, asking the board not to limit the number of subjects available for scrutiny to only 12 major subjects among other conditions.

The bench said its order should be made applicable to all students and not just those who had approached the court.

On June 28, the board had published a circular imposing conditions on re-evaluation process, limiting the facility to scrutiny of marks to just 12 subjects -- English Core, English Elective (CBSE), English Elective (NCERT), Hindi Core, Hindi Elective, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Business Studies, Economics and Accountancy.

The CBSE had also restricted the right of a student to apply for scrutiny to only 10 questions.

The court order came after four students challenged the board's June 28 notice. The petitioner students had moved the court seeking re-evaluation in subjects which were not among the 12 subject mentioned in the notice.