The exam is scheduled to take place at the end of the semester. The notice appeared first at Satyawati college on September 4, 2017 mentioning that the students of first, second and third year who had not studied Hindi beyond class VIII must sit for the Compulsory Hindi Test (CHT) and clearing the exam was mandatory to obtain the degree.

The Hindi Department of DU in 2016 had asked the principals of the colleges to make a list of all the students who did not study Hindi after 8th grade and begin a course in Hindi to train such students for CHT. The proposal was cleared from the Academic council of Delhi University in July 2016, however, students from the Northeast protested and consequently were exempted from taking the test, but this has not been notified in the Resolution No 10 of Academic Council of 19th July 2016, which was subsequently passed by the university.

"This was a rule that did exist earlier, but it has now been made compulsory after the introduction of Choice Based Credit System (CBCS)." Said Professor Harimohan Sharma, Department of Hindi.

The move has created a storm in the students from Northeast as well as other non-Hindi speaking regions.

Activists of North-East forum for international Solidarity (NEFIS) protested stating "This is a disgraceful attempt to discriminate students. The move would cause a lot of hardship to students from non-Hindi speaking areas."

NEFIS submitted a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor demanding that exemption which was earlier given to the Northeast students should continue and immediate steps should be taken to develop the infrastructure.

Some colleges including Dayal Singh College have already started teaching the course whereas Ramjas college has made it compulsory only for the first year students of BA programme.

On the other hand principals of a few colleges have said that the circular came from the Hindi Department and not from the University Administration in reference to which Manoj Sinha, the Principal of Aryabhatta college said, "The department has written to us several times asking us to introduce this system. But until and unless we get a notification from the registrar, no college will implement it."