The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking mandatory hostel facilities for Delhi University students, saying the varsity’s rules do not have any such provision.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar dismissed the plea that claimed one provision of the Delhi University Act mandates for compulsory hostel facilities.

The court refused to grant any interim financial aid as an interim measure till hostel facilities were not given to the students after the Delhi University’s counsel said this would lead to huge expense.

The court was hearing a plea that said 86% of the university’s students had been left to the mercy of exploitative landlords and property dealers.

The plea, filed through advocate Kamlesh Kumar Mishra, said the paying guest facilities mushrooming around the university and college campuses were below standard and the students were being exploited with exorbitant rents at the whims and fancies of owners.

The petition said the cost of food items in students’ mess and canteens should be on a par with that of the university staff mess where the prices were comparatively low.

But the court refused to grant any relief to the petitioners, who were former students of the varsity. The bench said it was not the authority to fix the rate of food items in the canteen. A detailed copy of the order was yet to be uploaded on the official website of the Delhi High Court.

The plea had claimed many of PGs and private hostels were owned by professors of the university.

First Published: Jul 04, 2019 07:38 IST