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2019 Supreme(Del) 2006
IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Rajiv Shakdher, J.
Kavash Khanna - Appellant
Vs.
Faculty Of Management Studies And Others - Respondent
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 6814 of 2019; Civil Miscellaneous Application No. 28488 of 2019, 37658 of 2019
Decided On : 17-09-2019
Manish Bhardwaj, Adv., Mohinder J.S. Rupal, Adv., Hardik Rupal, Adv., Prang Newmei, Adv.
The court emphasized that admission decisions must align with the eligibility criteria specified in the Information Bulletin and cannot be based on additional cut-off dates not provided in the official guidelines.
Headnote:
Eligibility Criteria - MBA Programme - Information Bulletin - [Candidates applying for admission to the MBA programme must have pursued at least a Bachelor's Degree programme after twelve years of formal schooling with at least 50% marks at graduation level (SC/ST: Passing Marks; OBC/PWD/CW; 45% as per the University Rules) or equivalent CGPA. Candidates appearing for the final year examination of Bachelor's Degree may also apply! Note: Candidates appearing in the final year examination of Bachelor's Degree are eligible to apply for admission irrespective of their percentage of scores obtained till the time of application, provided that they expect to fulfil the eligibility criteria when their results are declared and which must be submitted to the FMS office at the time of admission to the programme.]
Fact of the Case:
The petitioner, an Australian citizen, applied for admission to the full-time MBA Programme at the University of Delhi. The respondents rejected his application on the grounds that he did not obtain his graduation result by the specified date.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the communication denying the petitioner's admission based on a cut-off date not mentioned in the Information Bulletin was unjustified. The court quashed the communication and ordered the petitioner's case to be reconsidered for admission based on the eligibility criteria in the Information Bulletin.
Issues: Dispute over the eligibility criteria for admission to the MBA Programme, specifically regarding the requirement to furnish graduation results by a certain date.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the respondents could not deny admission based on a cut-off date not specified in the Information Bulletin. The eligibility criteria allowed candidates to apply based on predicted scores, with the requirement to submit actual results at the time of admission.
Final Decision: The communication denying the petitioner's admission was quashed, and the respondents were ordered to reconsider the petitioner's case for admission within one week.
JUDGMENT :
Rajiv Shakdher, J.
At the heart of the matter is the dispute obtaining between the parties qua the issue as to whether the petitioner fulfils the eligibility criteria stipulated for gaining admission to the MBA Programme.
1.1 The eligibility criteria for the MBA Programme which is contained in the Information Bulletin, qua which there is no dispute, provides for the following:
"Eligibility Criteria for MBA Programme, Candidates applying for admission to the MBA programme must have pursued at least a Bachelor's Degree programme after twelve years of formal schooling with at least 50% marks at graduation level (SC/ST: Passing Marks; OBC/PWD/CW; 45% as per the University Rules) or equivalent CGPA. Candidates appearing for the final year examination of Bachelor's Degree may also apply!
Note: Candidates appearing in the final year examination of Bachelor's Degree are eligible to apply for admission irrespective of their percentage of scores obtained till the time of application, provided that they expect to fulfil the eligibility criteria when their results are declared and which must be submitted to the FMS office at the time of admission to the programme."
2. The respondents take the position that the petitioner does not fulfil the eligibility criteria as he did not obtain his graduation result by 21.05.2019.
2.1 Pertinently, this date is not referred to in the Information Bulletin published by the respondents.
2.2 The petitioner claims that he has obtained a Bachelor's degree in B.A. Economics (Hons.) from the Hindu College, University of Delhi after undertaking 12 years of formal schooling with 93 percent marks in Grade XII. The petitioner also asserts that he passed his class XII exam with 93 percent marks and secured in his graduation a CGPA of 7.31 which rounds off to 69.5 percent.
3. Therefore, if one were to iterate the stand taken by the parties, the only limb of the eligibility criteria provided in the Information Bulletin vis-a-vis which a dispute arises before me is : whether there was a requirement to furnish the results obtained at the graduation level by the petitioner on or before 21.05.2019.
3.1 Pertinently, the petitioner's results in B.A. Economics (Hons.) were declared on 28.06.2019 while his candidature for the full-time MBA Programme was rejected on 03.06.2019. Background Facts
4. Given this preface and in order to adjudicate upon the aforementioned issue, it would be relevant to notice the following facts:-
4.1 The petitioner is an Australian citizen and an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI Card holder). The petitioner pursued his undergraduate studies, as adverted to above, in B.A. Economics (Hons.) from the Hindu College, University of Delhi. The petitioner being desirous of pursuing a course in MBA, on 07.03.2019, submitted an application for being admitted to the full- time MBA Programme conducted by the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, for the academic session 2019-2020.
4.2 At the point in time when the application was preferred by the petitioner, he was awaiting the results of VIth and final semester of his undergraduate course.
4.3 The respondent No. 2 via an email dated 03.06.2019 conveyed to the petitioner that his application for admission to the academic session 2019- 2020 had not been recommended.
4.4 It is relevant to note that the petitioner had applied for the full-time MBA Programme under the foreign students' quota. It appears that the respondents have provided for two (2) seats each vis-a-vis candidates who hail from the following five continents i.e. Asia, The Americas, Europe, Australia and New Zealand and Africa. The Australia and New Zealand continent according to the respondents is compendiously referred to as the "Oceania continent".
5. The petitioner being aggrieved approached this court by way of the instant writ petition. The writ petition came up for hearing on 17.06.2019. On that date the court issued notice in the writ petition and proceeded to direct the respondents
