IIMs meet put off, Govt directs them to defer admission process

New Delhi, Apr 20 (UNI) The Indian Institutes of Management were today directed by the Human Resource Development Ministry to suspend the admission process for the academic year 2007-08 till April 23 when the Supreme Court hears the quota issue.

A meeting of all directors of the IIMs that was scheduled to be held today was cancelled. When contacted, Prof Devi Singh, Director of IIM Lucknow refused to give any reason for calling off the meeting.

However, a senior HRD official told UNI that, ''The Government in a notification late last night reiterated its earlier stance that the process for admission to IIMs should be put on hold till any further directives.'' The Ministry had nothing to do with the holding or postponement of such a meeting, but it had certainly reminded IIM managements about its April five directive, he added.

The IIMs meeting was to discuss the situation arising out of the April 18 Supreme Court decision to hear on April 23 the Centre's application seeking vacation of its stay on the implementation of 27 per cent reservation for the OBCs in central educational institutions.

The court's stay order, delivered on March 29, had come when the admission process in the IIMs for the coming academic session was almost complete.

However, their directors last week decided to go ahead with the admission of general category candidates and publish the final list of the general category candidates on April 21, if they did not hear anything from the government by that date.

The apex court had in its April 18 order made it clear that the government had to satisfy that it was not seeking a review of the March 29 stay order.

It had however come as a setback to the government. The court said it was a prima facie review petition and the court would hear the arguments whether the application for clarification was in substance a review petition.

The apex court had stayed the operation of the notification for introducing the OBC reservation on the grounds that no authentic data regarding the percentage of OBCs in the country had been placed by the government before the court and the 1931 census, which was the basis of the Mandal Commission report, could not be considered authentic.

The court had also expressed its reservation against inclusion of the creamy layer in the ambit of reservation.

After the court stay, there was political pressure on the government to get the stay order vacated.

UNI