By IANS
New Delhi : Although the Supreme Court has approved the other backward classes (OBC) quota in higher educational institutions, the government intends to wait for a cabinet clearance before asking the institutions to implement the measure, a government official said Friday.
The government has not issued any instruction to educational institutions on the quota.
“It is too early. The government is examining the court judgement on OBC reservation now,” a senior official of the human resource development (HRD) ministry said, requesting anonymity.
The department of legal affairs, the Prime Minister’s Office and the HRD ministry are preparing a note on the Supreme Court judgement. “There are many grey areas which need to be clarified,” said an HRD official.
Besides excluding the creamy layer, or the affluent section of the community, from the OBC reservation, the court judgement refrains OBC graduates from the benefit of quota for higher courses.
This, according to officials, creates doubt if reservation could be extended to the Indian Institutes of Management and other educational institutions. “These are some issues that will be discussed in the cabinet soon,” said an official.
The government will also have to amend the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Bill, 2006, meant for OBC reservation in higher educational institutions, to strike-off the creamy layer, as per the court judgement.
The government is not keen to contest the court’s decision on exclusion of the creamy layer from the reservation.
Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh Friday said the government would follow the judgement of the Supreme Court on OBC reservation.
The government had allocated Rs.25.22 billion for additional infrastructure to accommodate an additional 54 percent – equally for the OBC and general category students – in higher educational institutions for the financial year 2008-09.
The additional infrastructure required for accommodating the additional 54 percent would be implemented in a staggered manner for three years.