At Ramjas College on Friday. (Express Photo: Abhinav Saha) At Ramjas College on Friday. (Express Photo: Abhinav Saha)

Written by Aranya Shankar and Ananya Tiwari

In Tamil Nadu, the titles ‘Selvi’ and ‘Thiru’ are prefixed before names to denote ‘Ms.’ or ‘Mr.’ In some Delhi University colleges, though, these titles created confusion among officials who Friday said they couldn’t admit students with the prefix mentioned in their OBC certificate, as it was not present in their application form or other certificates, thereby creating a “discrepancy”.

That’s not all. The cultural practice of using the father’s name as the first name, or abbreviating the surname, is also creating issues for some aspirants. The problem was most acute at Shri Ram College of Commerce, where many students from Tamil Nadu came to take admission under the first list, released late Thursday night.

Hamshika B from Erode, who had come to take admission in B.Com (H), faced problems because of her father’s name. In the OBC certificate, his name is Thiru Bhaskar, whereas in the Class X school certificate it’s A Bhaskar. His Aadhaar card, however, mentions his name as Bhaskar Arumugam.

Despite getting 98.05% in her best of four and clearing the 96.5% cut-off for OBC category, college authorities were not sure whether to grant her admission. “They have given me provisional admission as of now, but within 14 days I have to submit another OBC certificate without any ‘discrepancy’,” she said.

Navaneetha R S, also from Erode, faced problems because the OBC certificate mentions her name as Selvi Navaneetha R S. At SRCC college for admission in B.Com (H) without her parents, she said: “I don’t know what will happen. I hope I get admission. Going back to Erode to make a certificate again will be very difficult.”

Ashwini Kumar, member of the SRCC Admissions Committee, said: “DU’s rules say that if there is any discrepancy, the candidate should be asked to get a new certificate. In cases where we are finding several different spellings or names, we are giving them 14 days to do so, or in minor cases, we are taking an affidavit from the student stating that their name is such and such.”

In Lady Shri Ram College for Women, a similar problem was faced by a candidate from Namakkal, who had come to apply for Political Science. Her OBC certificate mentions her name as Selvi Atshaya, whereas her Class X board marks certificate has Atshaya S. “In Tamil Nadu, we refer to girls as ‘selvi’, and register them as Selvi Atshaya… But here, they are not accepting that certificate since on the board marksheet, it is different,” said her brother Cheran.

Several students facing problems also visited the Dean of Students’ Welfare office. “We are going to consider such students for admission as long as they are able to provide some other ID proof as evidence. We are trying that candidates don’t face many difficulties,” said DSW Rajeev Gupta.

(Ananya Tiwari is an intern at The Indian Express)

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