Hindu College staff association seeks inquiry over DU quota allocation error

Hindu College’s commerce programme received 17 seats through sports and extracurricular activities (ECA) quotas, seven above its programme-level limit of 10, after an error in Delhi University’s centralised admission allocation.

The college’s staff association passed a no-confidence motion against principal Anju Srivastava on August 18. The association alleged admission irregularities and sought an impartial inquiry. Political science was allotted 15 sports and ECA quota seats, five above its limit of 10.

Under DU rules, sports and ECA admissions together can account for up to 5% of a college’s sanctioned strength. At Hindu College, this amounted to 48 seats: 33 for sports and 15 for ECA. Each programme could receive up to seven sports seats and three ECA seats.

The college’s sports and ECA committees flagged the allocations. Srivastava then wrote to DU’s dean of admissions on August 11.

DU replied on August 14 that it had inadvertently applied a 20% cap at the programme level, rather than separately to the two quotas. Registrar Vikas Gupta said similar errors affected several colleges. He said the university could not cancel the additional first-round allocations and would correct the distribution in later admission rounds.

Srivastava said Hindu College had no role in the university-run allocation process. Student groups including AISA, NSUI and KYS also held protests on campus.