New Delhi: Justice Prathiba M. Singh of the Delhi High Court has directed Delhi University to take a relook at its course structures and the eligibility criteria and modify the same, well within time for the forthcoming academic year. The direction was issued on a plea claiming that marks in computer science in class XII ought to be considered while adjudging merit for admission to the B.Sc. Physics (Hons.) course.
The court observed:
“The immediate and natural answer would be a `Yes’, as there can be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Computer Science has enormous relevance to Physics, and as a discipline, Computer Science would be taught and would form an integral part of a Physics (Hons.) graduation programme.”
Senior Advocate V. Shekhar, appearing for the petitioner, said that the petitioner does not seek a change in the eligibility criteria for admission to B.Sc. (Hons.) Physics and he is not seeking deletion of Chemistry. The petitioner merely seeks addition of Computer Science as one of the subjects for calculation of the aggregate that is considered for deciding the merit list. Shekhar also said that while the score in physics is considered to be relevant for admission to the B.Sc. (Hons.) programme in Computer Science, the vice-versa is not true. He submits that for studying Physics, knowledge of Computer Science would be very relevant.
Mohinder Rupal, counsel for DU, said that the entire challenge is bereft of merit as the Bulletin of Information was released in June 2020, but the challenge is made only after the Class XII results were announced. He further submitted that the petitioner was not aggrieved by the eligibility criteria for B.Sc. (Hons.) prior to the results being announced, which itself shows that because the petitioner has scored a 100/100 in Computer Science, he wants the said subject to be considered.
Read the judgment here;
HC-Order-dated-16.09.2020-India Legal Bureau