Arjun holds legal consultations; IIMs, IITs waiting

New Delhi, Mar 30 (UNI) The uncertainty and confusion regarding the fate of OBC aspirants for admission to IIMs, IITs and AIIMS continued today with the HRD Ministry still not coming out with instructions for the elite institutions where preparations for intake of more students under the 27 per cent quota had started.

''We are yet to receive a certified copy of the Supreme Court judgement, and unless we have that, it would be difficult to say what would be the government's next step,'' Joint Secretary Higher Education Sunil Kumar told reporters here after a meeting of the Department's top officials He said the copies of the judgement would also be sent to the central institutions of higher learning concerned to help them devise their way of dealing with the situation.

The Ministry will have to study the judgement threadbare to arrive at various options, said Mr Kumar.

The court had yesterday stayed till further orders the operation of the notification issued in January this year under the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 providing 27.5 per cent reservations to the OBCs in admission to the centrally-run educational institutions from the 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.

Meanwhile, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh today held a series of meetings with top officials and legal experts, including the Solicitor General.

The Minister had yesterday said he was confident that all legal hurdles would be overcome and the court would finally find the law valid.

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