Delhi University may give a free hand to its colleges in deciding their own admission criteria for vacant seats remaining after the fifth cut off list, which is likely to be the final merit list, issued by the varsity for the upcoming academic session.

The university had constituted a 24-member committee, comprising deans from faculties of science, commerce and arts, nine college principals and members from the executive and academic councils, to formulate an admission policy which will be notified by end of this month.

The panel will submit its final recommendations to the Vice Chancellor who will then take a call on the admission policy for the session.

"Principals of various colleges have raised the issue in past as well that issuing numerous cut offs delays the admission process but since the seats remain vacant closing the process is also not a fair idea, reports PTI.

"So it has been decided this time that there will be maximum five cut off lists this time unlike previous years when the varsity used to issue up to 12 cut offs," a committee member said.

The member further said that the colleges will be free to set their own criteria after that to fill the vacant seats rather than depending on the Registrar''s office to set the merit.

However, the colleges may be asked to notify their criteria beforehand to ensure there are no back door entries and the admission process is transparent.

Being minority institutions, St Stephen''s and Jesus and Mary College are allowed to follow an independent schedule and procedure for admission to undergraduate courses. Unlike other colleges, Stephen's holds personal interviews for candidates whose scores meet the cut-off list.

Three colleges run by the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC)-Mata Sundari College for Women, Sri Guru Nanak Dev (SGND) Khalsa College and Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce -- which were granted minority status by the Delhi High Court last year, have also approached the university authorities to permit them to have independent admission process from the upcoming session.