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Justice Jasmeet Singh, who heard the case, said that by adding these points, JNU was actually changing the marks students got in the CUET exam.
JNU told Delhi HC that it had already sent many offer letters using the “deprivation points” system. (File Photo)
The Delhi High Court has put JNU’s postgraduate admissions on hold. The court has stopped the university from finalising any admissions that use extra “deprivation points.”
The court said adding bonus marks to scores from a big national exam like CUET is unfair. It goes against the whole point of having a competitive exam.
What are “deprivation points”?
JNU gives extra points to students based on how backward or remote the area of their old school was, which are known as “deprivation points.” To calculate the bonus points, JNU has two categories, called Quartile 1 and 2. The first quartile has the most disadvantaged districts of the country, and students from here get the highest deprivation points. The second quartile has districts that are slightly better than Quartile 1. There are also districts that fall in neither quartile.
JNU has identified 313 districts for deprivation points — 160 districts in Q1 and 153 in Q2 — using the 2011 census data.
As per the JNU prospectus, a student can get up to 12 of these points. Each point equals 3 marks — so a student could get up to 36 extra marks added to their score.
The deprivation list is calculated based on the percentage of female illiteracy in the district, percentage of agricultural workers, percentage of rural population, and percentage of households without a latrine on the premises.
A student named Amit Mehra went to court against this rule. He said that changing CUET scores this way is unfair to everyone in the admission process.
What the Court Said?
Justice Jasmeet Singh, who heard the case, said he did not agree with JNU’s arguments. The court said that by adding these points, JNU was actually changing the marks students got in the CUET exam, reported ETV Bharat.
“If such permission were granted, the sanctity and fundamental nature of any competitive examination would cease to exist. Any university could then alter marks obtained in a competitive examination through its own ordinances, which runs completely counter to the very concept of a competitive examination,” the court stated.
JNU Defends Policy
The university said it wants students from remote and different parts of India to get fair representation. It pointed to its 1966 Act and rules approved by its Academic Council. JNU also told the court that it had already sent many offer letters using this points system.
However, the court said that if admissions were allowed to finish now, and the court later decided the extra points were wrong, there would be no way to fix it. So, to be safe, the court ordered that no admissions using “deprivation points” can be finalised until the next hearing. No further steps can be taken either.
The next hearing is on August 24.
Key Questions Answered
Ask News18The Delhi High Court has halted JNU’s use of “deprivation points” for postgraduate admissions, stating that adding these points changes marks obtained in the CUET exam and could undermine the exam’s integrity. The court has stopped the university from finalising admissions that use these extra points.
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August 20, 2026, 09:21 IST
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