The Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) has alleged the DU admission procedure of denying admission to the students of OBC/EWS quotas. DUSU has claimed that certain colleges within the varsity are denying admissions to students of OBC/EWS quotas. Allegedly, the admissions have been denied due to the failure of providing the latest documents supporting the quotas. “Despite issuing the guidelines which state that applicants availing OBC/EWS quota can give an undertaking supporting their old certificates of OBC/EWS, the colleges have turned down many applicants”, alleged Shivangi Kharwal, Joint Secretary of DUSU. ABVP along with the officials from the Union held a protest on Saturday, 17th October 2020 because of the same.
“Some students could not produce their latest documents supporting their quota due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the colleges have been mandated to accept their certificates with an undertaking which grants the applicants 15 days’ time to furnish the latest documents. Besides, the nodal officers appointed to look after admissions were unresponsive when the applicants tried to contact them”, Shivangi Kharwal added. The student’s body was made aware of these discrepancies by the concerned students. They called DUSU on the helpline number provided by the body in case they encounter any issues during the DU admission procedure.
However, according to the university, these allegations are baseless. The varsity has called the news false propaganda to politicise the matter. “We are for the welfare of the students and have nothing against the applicants of OBC and EWS categories. This is just an attempt to malign the university’s image only to score a few political points. This is a false narrative propagated by people with political ambitions”, said Shobha Bagai, Dean of Admissions at DU.
“It’s DU’s policy that both OBC and EWS certificates should not be older than March 31, 2020. We have conveyed this in June only. However, some students could not produce these documents until the time of admission. We have also allowed them to give an undertaking and take 15 days’ time to furnish the latest ones. I strongly condemn the misleading campaign against DU”, added Bagai.
Furthermore, the varsity has said that the nodal officers are University teachers. Unlike previous years, they are handling the admission procedure while taking classes. There is a possibility that they might have missed a few calls due to the same reason.
