M Phil, Ph D courses : HC directs JNU to declare admission results

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed Jawaharlal Nehru University  to immediately declare the admission results for M Phil and Ph D courses for the current academic session, barring the five per cent unfilled seats for students with disability.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said it had earlier stayed the admission for the M Phil and the Ph D courses to the unfilled seats for students with disability only and not the entire process.

"Why have you not declared results. We had not restrained the university from declaring other results. You are bound to declare the results. The authorities are directed to declare the results on the website forthwith," the bench said. 

The court was hearing a petition filed by the National Federation of the Blind challenging the admission policy of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for the 2018-19 academic session, saying it stipulates 100 per cent weightage to the viva voce examination which is unfair. 

On Tuesday, an intervention application was filed by several students, who were interested in pursuing careers in varied field of research, challenging the JNU's decision to delay publication of M Phil and Ph D admission and viva voce results for the 2018-19 academic year.

Central government standing counsel Monika Arora, appearing for JNU, informed the court that the results of admission process of 2018 have not been declared and the officials have brought the results to the court. The court asked the varsity to declare the admission results. 

In its response, JNU has claimed that the contents of the petitions are wrong and denied. It claimed that the admission policy 2018-19 of JNU is in pursuance of the UGC Regulations of 2016 as the university has implemented regulation with effect from admission year 2017-18.

The court had on April 18 said, "JNU shall stand prohibited from effecting admission to the five per cent unfilled seats for students with disability for M Phil/PhD courses."

The petitioner has also challenged the decision of the university not to grant any weightage to the written examination and alleged it had failed to grant any relaxation to persons with disabilities in the entrance examination despite statutory prescription.

It has said that as per the brochure, five per cent of the total seats for the M Phil and the Ph D courses have to be kept reserved for persons with disabilities.

Senior advocate S K Rungta, appearing for the federation, said these decisions and stipulations by the university are unconstitutional and contrary to the specific statutory provision.

He said if the varsity is permitted to effectuate admission based on such a policy and incidents, grave and irreparable loss would be caused to the interests of the disabled students.