New Delhi: Disposing of a writ petition filed by CBSE’s national-level gold medalist in lawn tennis, the Delhi High Court has directed that all colleges affiliated to Delhi University (DU) must adhere to the mandatory 5% reservation for extracurricular activities (ECA) and sports quota during future admissions.
The case was filed by minor Aditi Rawat, represented by her mother Anita Rawat. She was seeking a seat under the sports quota in Hindu College for the academic year 2025-26.
Rawat’s lawyers, Jitendra Gupta, Bharat Rawat and Ashish Mishra, argued that as per DU’s admission policy, 5% of the total seats in each college are mandatory to be reserved for ECA/sports, while Hindu College has allotted only 10-10 seats for ECA and sports out of the sanctioned 956 seats – much less than the required 47 seats.
Hindu College argued that the quota mentioned in DU’s information bulletin was not mandatory.
However, Delhi University, in an affidavit submitted to the court, confirmed that colleges are bound to reserve 5% of their sanctioned admissions for ECA and sports admissions.
Justice Vikas Mahajan said there was no ambiguity in the university’s affidavit; the quota is mandatory. However, since the centralised process of admissions under the sports additional quota for the academic session had already been completed, the court ruled that immediate relief cannot be granted to the petitioner, who had already secured admission under the sports quota at Lady Shri Ram College.
During the proceedings, advocate Gupta also pointed out that DU had issued a public notice for immediate admissions. However, the court clarified that this notice applies only to regular sanctioned seats and not to additional sports/ECA quota.
Finally, the petitioner’s counsel urged the court to ensure compliance in future, which was supported by DU’s counsel. Acknowledging this, Justice Mahajan expressed hope that DU colleges will henceforth strictly follow the information bulletin guidelines regarding the mandatory 5% ECA/sports quota. The petition was disposed of with these directions, the court order said.