40 SC, ST aspirants still hold on to hope

New Delhi, Jul 8, 2012, DHNS :,

Jul 09 2012, 02:00 ist
updated: Jul 09 2012, 02:00 ist

At least 40 aspirants from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes categories are hoping that their requests for admissions in various undergraduate courses in Delhi University will be accepted by DU officials.

On Friday, activists working for reserved category students met union human resource development minister Kapil Sibal, asking for a directive to be given to DU to allow late admissions.

“A majority of students of these 40 are from outside Delhi, and some are from remote villages, where getting information immediately is difficult and time consuming.

Since we put up this matter on Friday, we are hoping that something will be worked out for them by Monday. But there has been no directive yet by the ministry,” said Sujit Kumar, member of Kranti Kari Yuva Sanghathan, an organisation working for SC and ST students.

Other problems cited by the students that delayed their admissions were less counters to get admission slips and paucity of time to finish the whole process.

“With just one counter being open at the SC and ST admission venue and the time till 1 pm, even after standing for one full day, I could not get the admission slip,” said Satish Kumar, a student.

“Then paying fees also takes one full day. So when admission is open for only three days and then the next cut-off admissions start, there are several students who could not get admitted due to all this,” said Kumar.

Of 24,000 students who applied for various courses in DU from SC and ST categories this year, only 12,000 students were allotted seats.

“We have been asking DU officials and Sibal to help students who make the cut-offs.

They should not be denied admissions. In general category there are always more number of admissions; however, when it comes to reserved category students admissions are restricted to the sanctioned strength,” said another member.

Members who went for talks with Sibal said the admission process for the 40 students are expected to start soon. “Talks are on in this matter,” he said.