University can deny admission to students not carrying documents, says Delhi High Court

New Delhi: The students, who secure a rank in an entrance exam but fail to produce the required documents at the time of counselling, cannot fault the university for denying admission, Delhi High Court has held.

"Since the petitioner failed to appear for counselling in terms of the notification with the original documents, the action of the respondent university in denying admission to the petitioner and not entertaining the degree produced at a subsequent date cannot be faulted," Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said.

The court's observation came while dismissing a plea by a student, Bhim Shankar Thakur, who had urged that the Delhi University (DU) be directed to accept his degree certificate and grant him admission in LLB course for 2016-2017 session.

Thakur had appeared for LLB entrance examination and secured rank 767 in the OBC category. As per his rank, he was called for counselling on August 22, but he could not submit the original graduation degree as required.

The boy had graduated in 2012, but had not collected the degree from the university. After DU administration refused him admission due to his failure to submit the original documents, he had collected the degree from the university at Meerut on September 8, 2016.

When he approached DU to submit the degree after the counselling was over, the varsity did not accept it.

The student's lawyer had contended that he was not in a position to produce any proof that the degree had not been issued by the university till the date of counselling. But he had prayed that he be granted admission according to his rank.

The court, however, was not convinced with the contention and in its verdict, relied on its own judgment passed in a case with identical circumstances where it was held that "degree not collected cannot be equated with degree not issued."

It was also held that it was mandatory for the candidates to report with the documents in original at the specified date and time for counselling, failing which they will forfeit their claim for admission.