Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 16:09 (IST)

The famed St Stephens College has reduced the cut-off marks for Christian students from the Church of North India (CNI) denomination to 60 per cent.

The Christian institution - one of the oldest in Delhi - fixed the criterion for "practical reasons" and not for being unable to fill the vacant seats like last year, according to Nandita Narain, the Tutor of Admissions.

Sale of admission forms already began on Monday and "things will be clear after students have filled the forms," says Narrain.

Last year, the institution was in the midst of a controversy after it upped the reservation quota for Christian students.

The college reserves 50 per cent seats for students from the Christian community. And included in this are 10 per cent seats for poor dalit Christians and physically handicapped, 20 per cent for those from CNI denomination and 20 per cent reserved for Christians from other denominations.

In 2007, the college had 40 per cent Christian quota included 10 per cent for Dalit Christians but there was no provision for the physically handicapped or SC/ST category.

The increase had however welcomed severe criticisms from educationalists and sometimes even from the faculty members who demanded the institution to roll back its decision.

Sunil Mathew, St Stephen's spokesman later defended that “Christians were not getting sufficient representation in the college and so the quota had to be increased."

The college – a constituent of the University of Delhi - was founded in 1881 and has still today produced a long line of outstanding alumni.

The college is named after Saint Stephen, who was adopted by the Anglican Church as the patron saint of Delhi after Christian converts were reportedly stoned to death during the 1857 uprising.