MDU PG Seats, Reservation and Fees: The 85/15 Haryana Quota Explained

MDU's PG seats are split by a Haryana formula that decides who competes with whom. 15% of every programme is an All India Category open to everyone, Haryana candidates included; 85% is the State Quota for Haryana residents, half of it open and half reserved. Candidates from other states compete for the all-India seats and, in programmes not regulated by BCI, PCI, AICTE or NCTE, for extra supernumerary seats offered at the third counselling; and reserved-category candidates from other states are treated as General. This guide explains the split, the supernumerary seats and the fees.

MDU PG Prospectus 2026-27, pp. 43, 52, 97.

Some programmes are self-financing: M.A. Yoga Science, LL.M. Shift II, MBA (SFS), M.Sc. Mathematics (SFS), and the programmes billed under the SFS fee table — MHMCT, MTTM, M.Sc. Computer Science and M.Sc. CS (Data Science & ML). SFS seats follow the same reservation split and the same merit, but tuition and development fees are charged each semester, the BPL tuition concession does not apply, and 5% freeships are offered instead. The two M.Sc. Mathematics sections illustrate the cost difference: the regular section's first payment is about ₹7,500, while the SFS section charges ₹16,620 tuition and ₹5,160 development every semester on top of the annual heads.

Sanctioned seats are not always final. On 19 August 2026 MDU raised the LL.M. Shift I and II intake by 30%; in 2025 it added a further 10% (20% in total) to M.A. Sociology and M.A. Hindi on 25 August, and to LL.M. on 28 August. Such increases come as notices on the admission page, usually in August, after the main rounds — a reason to keep watching the notices after the scheduled counselling ends.

For Haryana EWS seats the prospectus still prints an income limit of ₹6 lakh, but MDU's admission-process notice of 3 July 2026 applies a Haryana government letter of 14 January 2026 raising it to ₹8 lakh. The all-India EWS seats follow the Central rule: family income below ₹8 lakh, and no family holding of 5 acres of farm land, a flat of 1,000 sq ft, or a residential plot of 100 sq yards in a notified municipality (200 sq yards elsewhere), shown on an Income and Asset Certificate from the Tehsildar. Income certificates must be issued on or after 1 April of the admission year.

On top of the sanctioned intake, the prospectus lists supernumerary seats filled only on entrance merit and never converted: one transgender seat per programme; sports seats (one where intake is 30–59, two where it is 60 or more; age up to 25); one cultural; up to 25% international and 10% NRI; defence personnel; one single girl child; one ward of an MDU employee; one Centre or State government sponsored; Kashmiri migrants; wards or spouses of Kargil martyrs; two for University Campus School students; one NCC "C" and one NSS/YRC; one orphan; and five extra in M.Sc. Forensic Science for military, police and Haryana health personnel. None apply in BCI, PCI, AICTE or NCTE-regulated programmes.

Three percent of seats go to ex-servicemen and dependants of freedom fighters by reservation within reservation — one percent each out of the General, SC and BC shares — and an unused PwD quota may pass to them. A candidate may change category only after the third counselling and before seats are converted. Reserved candidates from Haryana who score high enough are admitted against open seats and do not use up a reserved seat, which is why a category list can include scores above the open list's lower end.

Concessions: SC students with family income up to ₹2.5 lakh pay no tuition and most funds (claimed through Haryana's Directorate of Higher Education); BPL yellow-card holders get full tuition concession (not in SFS programmes); SFS programmes have 5% freeships. Fees are paid in full, online, the day after counselling; there are no instalments. If you leave without attending any class and apply for a refund within seven days of admission, you get the fee back minus ₹1,000; later, 15% is deducted (minimum ₹1,000) if the seat is refilled, and nothing is refunded if it is not.