The Hindu : New Delhi News : Admission to ex-minister's daughter raises a storm

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Friday, Jul 09, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Admission to ex-minister's daughter raises a storm

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JULY 8. Even as the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) today staged a protest outside the Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) for giving admission to the daughter of the former Union Minister of State, Vijay Goel, despite her not fulfilling the cut-off, the University maintained that the admission does not violate University norms.

Although the High Court's ban on management quota bars colleges from giving admission to students under this category, the University Ordinance does allow colleges to give preference to wards of the academic and non-academic staff as well as the general body, say senior University officials.

"The University Ordinance does say that colleges may or may not give preference to wards of teachers and the non-academic staff. There is no written rule really, but it is a practice that has been followed for long much like schools not taking any fees from the children of teachers. As per the Ordinance, colleges may or may not give admission to three academic staff and three non-academic staff students," said the Dean of Students' Welfare, Hema Raghavan.

For his part, the former Chandni Chowk MP dismissed the furore over the admission as needless, asking why it was being questioned when the college has been taking students under the same category for nearly 40 years now.

"This is nothing new. The colleges have the right to give preference to students whose parents are teachers in the University colleges or governing body members. In this case, both holds true as the mother is a lecturer in the University," Mr. Goel pointed out.

Although the NSUI-led DUSU staged a protest outside the college today and threatened of dire consequences if the college doesn't withdraw the admission, it also seems to be ready for truce provided it gets a share of the cake.

"If it is true that the University allows such admissions, then the students union too must be covered by it. We are the real representatives of the students and we should be given the chance to give preference to our own people," said the NSUI national spokesperson, Kuntal Krishna.

But this is clearly not the first time that the college has run into trouble with admission under this category.

A similar situation arose two years ago, when there was much drama over the admission of the then college Principal, J.L. Gupta's daughter, who was reported to have gained admission despite her not having the required numbers.

The head of the Economic Department, A.J.C. Bose, had resigned, before the college finally declared that Mr. Gupta's daughter had not got admitted to the college and that Mr. Bose had never resigned.

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