In a denting setback to JNU’s admission process, the Delhi High Court has directed JNU to keep on hold admissions and all further action based on its deprivation points system for the 2026–27 academic sessions.
The court, in its observation, opined that deprivation points cannot be fitted into the CUET entrance mechanism. Even though, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday (August 18) permitted Jawahar Lal Nehru University to continue its post-graduate admissions based on “deprivation points”, thereby modifying the earlier single judge’s order, the admissions are still subject to outcome of the petition pending before the single judge. This is one of the biggest onslaughts on JNU’s progressive admission policy. Deprivation points have been the defining characteristics of JNU’s progressive admission policy. It is because of the deprivation points that students from economically backward districts could study in JNU. It was the deprivation point system, which introduced special marks for students from the OBC community, that helped ensure the spirit of the social justice much before OBC reservation was enacted as the law of the land.
It is because of these deprivation points that JNU ensured equitable participation of women students in its classrooms. The JNU administration has always been hell-bent on scuttling the deprivation points system. First, it scrapped deprivation points for PhD admissions in 2017. Now, in light of the observation made by the Court, the future of this policy is in doldrums. Not only this, the entire admission process of this batch has come under uncertainty. All these problems stem from the fact that the JNU administration has stopped conducting its own entrance examination and delegated the task to exams such as CUET and UGC, conducted by the NTA. The NTA is an agency that has repeatedly faced questions over its credibility because of paper leaks and concerns over the quality of examinations.
We have seen time and again that, despite having opportunities to reintroduce the JNUEE, the current administration has always avoided restoring the JNU Entrance Examination for its admission process.
The current crisis once again proves that there is no alternative to the JNUEE. JNUSU is completely committed to protecting the deprivation points system. We call upon the student community to gear up for another round of united struggle against this administration.
