Delhi High Court on Tuesday, 30 August responded to the petition filled by a female student to grant her the seat in Delhi University’s Postgraduate course under the sports supernumerary quota by dictating that it is not a matter of right.
The petitioner is a student named Vidushi Kasniya, a champion in Karate claimed that university had mentioned ‘Karate’ as an option to get admission through sports quota in the bulletin of information for the Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS) but when she was filing the online application for Masters of Arts in Psychology course, that time the option was not reflected. She had asked the High Court to ask University to add ‘Karate’ as a sport in the post graduate courses as ‘Karate’ is considered by the University of Delhi in the under graduate courses and in selected post graduate courses like MFA, MEd, MA Music.
Mohinder Rupel, an advocate for Delhi University argued that ‘Karate’ is not included as a sport under sports quota for post graduate level in the university hence granting admission under the ‘Karate’ sports is not possible.
A bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, gave the verdict that this is solely the policy of Delhi University to decide the eligibility criteria to admission the students for both under graduate and post graduate level. It is university’s guidelines and framework and totally up to Delhi University whether they want to include Karate in their supernumerary quota or not, after all, all the sports do not enjoy the same level of popularity hence students can’t claim these types of seats as a matter of right.
The decision of Delhi High Court highlights the importance of balancing athletic recognition with academic standards and institutional policies ensuring that sports quota function as opportunity and not entitlements.
