In a major policy shift, the Delhi government has done away with the rank-capping system for admission to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) which allowed candidates to compete for vacant seats after the counselling rounds. Previously, the university had a cut-off rank policy for various programmes. Under this, those who had a higher rank than the cut-off were not considered for admission even though there were vacant seats at many institutes.

With the removal of the policy, eligible candidates with lower ranks who had previously been denied admission will now get an opportunity to fill up the vacant seats. The issue of vacant seats in the colleges affiliated to GGSIPU has been a matter of concern for the government in recent years.

According to university data, a total 29,153 seats have stayed vacant over the last three sessions.While the university had a sanctioned intake of 39,398 students for 2023-24, only 27,482 admissions were recorded leaving behind 11,916 vacant seats. The number of vacant seats came down to 8,512 in 2024-25 where the total intake was 40,604. Vacancies have, again, climbed up to 8,725 for 2025-26 against a total intake capacity of 42,749.

 

A committee constituted in April to look into the recommendations of the Narayanaswamy Committee, admission guidelines and regulations for self-financing colleges in the city was asked to review the issue of vacant seats. It met with representatives of GGSIPU and self-financing college associations and came out with observations that said the vast majority of seats that went vacant in the last three years represented the underutilization of the infrastructure and resource base of the system.The committee recommended scrapping off the existing rank capping policy to enhance participation in the admission process.

 

The Directorate of Higher Education has now issued notice of removal of rank cap for the ongoing 2026-27 admission process as also subsequent admission cycles. The Delhi government has simultaneously approved a new system of physical spot counselling for vacant seats.

 

The same procedure is used in Delhi Technological University (DTU), Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT) and Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW) in this regard.Under the new system of spot counselling, only those candidates who report physically for spot counselling on a particular day would be considered for admission.

 

A merit list was prepared from these candidates and vacant seats would be filled according to the merit. The idea is that it would give second chance to any candidates who missed out on a seat during regular counselling and at the same time reduce the number of vacant seats in IP University and affiliated colleges.