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New Delhi, July 11: Ashok Kumar Tak, a Class XII passout, made it to the first list of Delhi University this year.
But the happiness of the Scheduled Caste student proved short-lived when he turned up for admission.
The 17-year-old Meerut boy was told he was late and could not be given an admission slip — a prerequisite for getting entry into a college.
Unlike general students, those from the SC and ST categories have to collect such slips from the centralised admission cell of the university and produce them within a stipulated time at the college he or she is seeking admission. Failure to do so could mean losing the seat.
“This year, many students did not get admission brochures. I did not know I had to collect the slip and get admission before June 28, three days after the first cut-off list was out. There was no such information given to students. I saw the cut-off list on the university website on June 28 and came to the varsity the next day. But I was denied the admission slip. I had been selected for Deen Dayal Upadhaya College,” Tak said.
The teenager has now been asked by the university authorities to wait till July 30 when the admission process gets over. He may get in if any seat remains vacant in the SC category.
“I have no option but to wait. I did not apply in any other university since I was hopeful of getting a seat in DU. Now I am not sure whether I will get admission.”
Tak is not the only one. According to the Insight Foundation, an NGO working for the cause of SC and ST students, more than 100 such aspirants have failed to get admission this year because they could not collect their slips on time.
“SC and ST students have to collect the slips on specific dates and get admission. If they fail to do so, they have to wait till the admission process ends. This is not the same for general students. Even if a general student fails to take admission because of delay in reaching the college, he or she still has a chance in some other college in the second cut-off list,” said Gurinder Azad, student coordinator of the foundation.
Representatives of the foundation and several other organisations, such as the Academic Forum for Social Justice (AFSJ) met Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal last week to highlight the “discriminatory” admission procedures. They said this had resulted in seats remaining vacant in reserved categories.
The AFSJ’s Hany Babu highlighted another anomaly. The varsity implements reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs on the basis of sanctioned strength of seats. However, the admission in general category exceeds by 20 to 30 per cent of the sanctioned strength because it is based on cut-off.
The HRD ministry has asked DU to follow the reservation criteria even if it means giving more students admission. The varsity has also been told to extend the period for collection of admission slips so that latecomers get a chance.
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