New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Monday sought response from the central government, the National Commission for Backward Classes, and Delhi University on plea seeking exclusion of “Jat category” from the other backward classes (OBC) quota in the ongoing admission to post-graduate medical courses.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice BD Ahmed and Justice Sidharth Mridul issued notices the government and DU on a plea filed by four candidates who belong to the OBC category and have sought admission to various post-graduate medical courses in the university.
The varsity has 229 degree and 29 diploma seats under the DU quota for academic session 2014 in various medical courses.
The petition said that as there is a 27 percent reservation for OBCs, “the number works out to 62 degree seats and eight diploma seats”.
The DU Feb 25 had come out with a tentative merit list of seats for ensuing academic session 2014 for the 27 percent OBC reserved seats. The petitioners were placed at different position in the merit list.
Meanwhile, the social justice and empowerment ministry came out with a resolution March 4 including the Jat community in the central government’s list of OBCs. After this, the varsity started accepting Jat students in the OBC category thus leading the merit list being recast/.
The four protested.
“This has resulted in grave prejudice to the petitioners and similarly placed candidates of the OBC category who already have a merit list drawn on Feb 25 prior to the impugned resolution dated March 4,” their petition said.
The plea said that inclusion of Jats caste in central list of OBCs was “utterly illegal being against the binding advice of the NCBC. In fact material on record showed to the contrary that they are a forward Hindu cast/ community”.
The bench directed the central government file its reply on the plea which has sought direction to DU to conduct counseling and admission for post-graduate medical seats for academic session 2014 on the basis of the tentative merit list dated Feb 25.