JNU Resumes UG, PG Admission After Delhi HC Division Bench Modified Interim order on Deprivation Points

What are Deprivation Points and How Can they impact JNU Admissions?

According to the JNU admission prospectus, the university awards up to 12 deprivation points with each point carrying 3 marks of weightage for candidates who belong to the geographically backward regions. It would lead up to a total of 36 marks difference with candidates who are not eligible for deprivation points. This leads to an advantage of getting admission with slightly low scores in CUET. While the deprivation points were intended to promote equitable access to higher education for students from geographically backward regions, several questions were raised over the use of deprivation points in JNU admission process.

Why Were JNU Admissions Stopped?

Amit Mehra, the petitioner has filed a case against JNU for the use of deprivation points for admission process in Section V of JNU 2026 e-prospectus. According to the petitioner, deprivation points change the candidate’s CUET PG score for those who are eligible for deprivation points by giving them an advantage of higher scores against those who are not eligible for deprivation points with the same CUET PG scores.

Following the petitioner's statement, the court expressed its concern that if JNU can add marks to the CUET scores the sanctity of the exam could be compromised. The court also considered that if the deprivation points were ruled out to be impermissible, reversing those admissions would be difficult. Therefore, Delhi High Court ordered the university to halt admissions to resolve the dispute on additional marks based on the deprivation points until the next hearing.

Why and How JNU Admissions Were Resumed?

JNU approached a Division Bench in the Delhi High Court on August 18 to express their concerns over the judgement made by the single Judge’s order over the halt on the JNU’s admission process. The Divison Bench comprising Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyay and Justice Tejas Karia modified the single Judge’s order and allowed the university to resume its admission process. However, JNU admissions would be subject to the final outcome of the original writ petition before the single Judge.

The Division Bench also considered the fact that the deprivation points were used for admissions since 1974, with changes over the years and as the admissions are underway and any delay in the admissions would lead to loss of classes and syllabus.