JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY STUDENTS UNION Vs. JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union, in all good faith and in their zest to pursue what they apparently consider a just cause have filed the present application for the issue of a writ to consider the claims of graduates who have undergone the (10+2+2) course of study for admission to the written entrance examination to acquire eligibility to be admitted into the Post-graduate course of study in the Jawaharlal Nehru University. We have tried to take the most sympathetic view possible but we find it impossible to intrude into the academic arena and accept responsibility for any amateur tinkering with matters of educational policy.

(2.) According to the present policy of the University, eligibility for admission to the entrance examination for post-graduate courses is now confined to those graduates who have undergone a (10+2+3) years 'course of study, that is those who have undergone a course of study for three years' in an University after 10 years' schooling and Intermediate. Although the 10+2+3 years' course of study has been introduced in many States, it has not been so done in the State of Bihar. What prevails there is a course of study of (10+2+2) years. Such graduates, under the existing policy of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, are not eligible for admission to Post-graduate course of study unless they do one year's 'bridge courge' in some University which provides for it. The petitioners question this exclusion of (10+2+2) graduates as arbitrary and ask why 'they should not be allowed to appear at the entrance examination along with the (10+2+3) graduates. The reason is apparent. Admission to the Entrance Examination to the Jawaharlal Nehru University is obviously open only to those who have done a course of study for full 15 years, out of which three years must have been at the University level. In the counter- affidavit filed on behalf of the University it is stated that the admission policy of the Jawaharlal Nehru University is in line with the National Policy of education. It is explained:

(3.) In the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the University Grants Commission it is stated: