A Vacation Bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the operation of two orders passed by the Delhi High Court, directing the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University to conduct a fresh common entrance test for its MBA course for 2019-20.
The Bench, led by Justice Indira Banerjee, issued notice to the Self Financing Educational Institutions Association, on whose petition the High Court had passed the consecutive orders in April and May. The notice is returnable on July 9, after the apex court re-opens, post the summer vacation.
Stay on orders
The apex court said, “There shall be stay of operation of the orders dated 12.04.2019 and 29.05.2019 passed by the High Court of Delhi”. The April 12 order was passed by a Single Bench of the High Court, while the one in May was based on a review petition.
In its petition before the apex court, the varsity said the Centre had issued an order on February 11, allowing the institution to conduct national level tests like the Common Admission Test (CAT), etc., for admissions to various courses for the year 2019-20.
Subsequently, the university had issued a circular that its MBA (Master of Business Administration) admissions would be based on CAT and Common Management Aptitude Test (CMAT) scores.
However, this was challenged by the association in the High Court, which had stayed the government order and university circular citing provisions from the Delhi Professional College or Institutions (Prohibition of Capitation Fee, Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Non-Exploitative Fee and Other Measures to Ensure Equity and Excellence) Act of 2007. It had ordered the varsity to conduct fresh entrance tests for MBA admissions.