SC declines to vacate stay on OBC quota

April 24: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to vacate the stay on the implementation of 27 per cent OBC quota at central level in higher education institutes for the academic session 2007-08. The apex court said that it found no reason to remove the stay imposed on March 29.

A Bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat said that the order is final for the current academic year and that the matter will be discussed later as it deals with some important legal issues.

•   E-mail Article
•   Printer Friendly
•   Text-Size    

Also, the Solicitor General G E Vahanvati asked to refer it to a constitution bench. However, the court said that it will discuss the matter at a later period only after examining the constitutional validity of the law.

Though, the government tried to clear that it had increased the number of seats to ensure that it would not affect general category applicants but the court had forced them to wait. With this the government has started consulting legal experts for its next step.

All the management institutes (IIMâ??s) are waiting for a fresh directive from HRD ministry. The directors will meet soon and are expected to start their admission process without OBC quota. Meanwhile, the government has instructed institutions not to collect original certificates from the students, thereby giving them a chance to apply for admission elsewhere later.

According to the Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss: â??Government will discuss this issue with all political parties.â?

Latest Update:

Meanwhile the Supreme Court has set May 8 for an early hearing, the Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said that the issue addresses a larger public interest and an early hearing is necessary otherwise a large number of students may lose an academic year. However, the government wants larger bench to hear OBC quota case.

As the apex body fixed the date as on the next month, there is again uncertainty in the admission process. Any further communication between the government and IIMs can vacate the confusion cloud over the issue.