New Delhi: The discrepancies in the
implementation of the reservation policy relating to the OBC
quota in central universities was on Wednesday brought up before the
Supreme Court which decided to hear it on Friday.
The petition pointing out the confusion prevailing in
several universities, including Jawaharlal Nehru University
(JNU) and University of Delhi (DU) where admission process was
in full swing, was listed for hearing before a vacation bench
of justices P Sathasivam and A K Patnaik.
The main issue was whether the cut-off marks for the
OBC candidates should be 10 per cent less than the marks fixed
for the general category candidates or should it be 10 per
cent less than the minimum eligibility criteria.
The petition has been filed by P V Indiresan, a former
professor of IIT Madras who has sought the implementation
of the apex court verdict by which the constitutional validity
of the law in 27 per cent quota for OBC's in the Central
Universities was upheld by it on April 10, 2008.
The court was informed that the three judges in a
majority verdict had held that the cut-off marks for OBCs
should not be less than five per cent or 10 per cent as
against the general category candidates.
The petitioner also requested the apex court to stay
the orders of the Delhi High Court which had on September 7,
2010, said the minimum eligibility criteria for admission
under OBC category would be at a maximum 10 per cent below the
minimum eligibility criteria fixed for the General/ Unreserved
category.
Senior advocate Indu Malhotra, appearing for the
petitioner, submitted Delhi University is following a
different yardstick which says that the gap in cutt-off for
OBC students and the general category students should not be
more than 10 per cent.
"Admissions in Delhi University are being conducted on
the basis of reservations to OBC candidates with 10 per cent
marks below the cut-off marks for general category students.
However in JNU, the procedure laid down by the impugned
judgement and order is being followed. Thus, there is a great
variance in admission procedures in central educational
institutions," the petitioner said.
Requesting the apex court for an urgent hearing, the
petitioner said results of the entrance examination of JNU for
the current session is already declared and interviews are
scheduled from July 4 onwards.
Since there was no counsel to represent JNU, the bench
said it will hear the matter on Friday.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, June 29, 2011, 21:01