SC Ruling May Hit Delhi, Allahabad Univs Most

New Delhi, Mar 29 (UNI) Unfazed by a Supreme Court ruling staying reservation of higher learning seats for Other Backward Classes, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh today promised Constitutional and legal steps required to render the move valid.

Failure to deal with the issue of ''creamy layer'' among the disadvantaged classes appeared to be a key hurdle. As the apex court reportedly put it: ''It... needs no reiteration that the creamy layer rule is necessary bargain between the competing ends of caste based reservations and the principle of secularism.'' The lack of census data reflecting the actual poportion of OBC popultion appeared to be another hurdle.

But the ruling is sure to pose uncertainties for OBC students, thousands of whom were scheduled to benefit from the move to reserve 27.5 per cent seats in central educational institutions starting academic year 2007-2008.

The apex court ruling came barely ten days after a government study indicated that some 12,720 seats will be added in 59 institutions to offset the impact at a cost Rs 2,686 crore.

Judging by the data in the HRD Ministry's Outcome Budget 2007-2008, the effect may be most pronounced for candidates seeking admission to Delhi and Allahabad universities-- which had hoped to add most seats to accommodate the new rush.

The other schools in that category were Indian Institute of Technology at Roorkee and Kharagpur and the National Institute of Technology at Warangal.

Heads of management and other schools already interviewing candidates were hard put to responding in the light of the apex court ruling-- apparently waiting for a cue from the Ministry.

Devi Singh, director of the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow told a reporter, the effect of the ruling would have to be discussed with the HRD Ministry.

The Outcome Budget study was part of efforts to implement the recommendation of an 'oversight' panel headed by former Karnataka Chief Minister and Administrative Reforms Commission chief M Veerappa Moily.

The panel was appointed following protests over the government decision to reserve higher learning seats for the OBCs.

Protesters voiced concern over possible loss of opportunity for general category students.

Moily recommended implementing reservation over a three year period during which seats may be added to cushion the impact on the general category students.

Among central universities, Delhi University is to add the maximum 3,142 seats, Allahabad University, 1,134 seats, Banaras Hindu University, 447, Jamia Millia Islamia, 301, Visva Bharati, 156, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 101, Assam University, 77, Pondicherry University, 69, Hyderabad University, 63, North Eastern Hill University, 64, Manipur University, 59, Tezpur University, 31, and Maulana Azad National Urdu University, 28.

Among the IITs, Roorkee will add 309 seats, Kharagpur, 295, Kanpur, 267, Mumbai, 209, Chennai, 204, Delhi, 151, and Guwahati, 101.

Among NITs, the school at Warangal will add the maximum 525 seats, followed by Calicut, 317,Trichi, 296, Bhopal, 282, Surat, 250, Jaipur, 247, Durgapur, 237, and Rourkela, 235.

The United Progressive Alliance had shown ''hurry'' to implement its policy, said former prime minister V P Singh who had taken steps in 1990 to implement Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal's findings on reservation to redress centuries of caste discrimination.

He told reporters in Lucknow that the government ought to go for a referendum before proceeding to implement its reservation.

''I don't think why the Centre is in such a hurry to implement the policy when the census report is not supporting it... The Centre should wait for the new census or can carry out a special official survey on castes to implement the reservation.'' Another critic, Justice Party president Udit Raj, regretted the court plea about unavailability of data on the percentage of OBC population.

He said a 1931 census put it at 52 per cent while a sample survey last year estimated it at 32 per cent. Each figure exceeds the 27 per cent reservation sought to be given.

UNI