The governing body had accused the council on Wednesday of going ahead with the new admission policies without adequate discussions.

But Narain, in her letter to the council dated June 19, says: “All matters pertaining to religious instruction or to religious character of the college shall be the sole concern of the supreme council, and any decision of the supreme council on these matters shall be binding on the governing body.”

Citing examples from past years, she writes, “To the best of my knowledge and experience as a member of the governing body for several years, the admission policy was always formulated by the supreme council and implemented by the principal with the help of the faculty.”

Neither the faculty nor the governing body, the letter says, “had any role in its formulation”. But a section of senior teachers backed the governing body. A senior teacher said that clause 5 of the college constitution states that the supreme council has “no jurisdiction over the administration of the college”.