Principals of many Delhi university colleges have voiced their apprehension about increasing the cut-off relaxation granted to other backwartd castes (OBC) candidates seeking admission - a move that the central government has been pushing for.

Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal has sought the supreme court's intervention in the issue after colleges failed to fill 50 percent of the seats reserved under the quota even after offering a 10 percent relaxation as compared to the general category students for admissions into various undergraduate courses.

A three-judges bench headed by justice R V Raveendran said on Friday that the cut-off relaxation for OBCs should not be less than five per cent or more than 10 per cent as against the general category candidates.

Principals of colleges in DU share a similar view. Most of them feel that the relaxing the limit any further could be tantamount to compromising with merit.

I S Bakshi, principal, Dyal Singh College said, “We are already giving the OBC students a 10 percent relaxation in almost all our courses, infact even the honours courses where certain standard of excellence has to be maintained we have allowed upto eight to nine percent relaxation. I don’t think, we need to go any further because that make us compromise on merit and further divide the gap between these students."

V K Kwatra, principal of Hansraj college, said that there was a need for colleges to have a benchmark for expectations of a record of academic excellence from prospective students. 

"Besides, we cannot have students with 50 percent and 90 percent sitting in the same classroom. It will increase the discrepancy and make things difficult for students,” he added.

For some like Pratibha Jolly, principal of Miranda House college, the demanded a more nuanced understanding of the admission rules.

“Colleges are allowed to give upto 10 percent relaxation to OBC as compared to that of general. However, even till the third list, colleges have only allowed upto six percent relaxation, so seats are going to go vacant. The relaxation needs to be decided as per the results every year. So I think, this year if all colleges exercise 10 percent relaxation, we will not need to go further,” Jolly noted.

However, there were principals who sided with the idea of increased cut-off reliefs. Sushma Tondon, principal, Daulat Ram said, “This year, the cut off has been very high, so I don’t think it is a bad idea to consider giving further relaxation to OBC students. Considering the fact that we have had so many seats go vacant last year, increasing the relaxation will only help the students and the colleges.”

Hemlata Reddy, principal, Sri Venkateswara said, “I think going beyond 10 percent can be considered, I back the minister’s view on this. We should encourage OBC participation in our colleges.”

But former dean of students welfare of DU S K Vij opposed the move citing concerns of merit dilution, even saying that there were  not enough OBC candidates. “I second any judgment which will not sacrifice merit. In my view, 10 percent relaxation is quite a big number anyway. If you tell me the gap should widen because seats were vacant last year and the increase in relaxation will help students come forward, I beg to disagree. Seats are vacant because there aren’t too many OBC students. From 400 kilometers from Delhi, there are hardly and OBC students.”

“The emphasis should be on education and not just filling up of seats and giving admissions. I think 10 percent is good enough to maintain the standard of education and merit,”added Vij.

S K Sopory, vice chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) where admissions are also in full swing, said, "We will follow what the supreme court will order us to do. We are already following upto 10 percent relaxation for OBC students from general category as the qualifying marks. The idea is to accomodate as many category students as we can."

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SC defers hearing on ambiguity in OBC quota admission

(PTI)

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to give any immediate direction on discrepancies in implementation of the reservation policy relating to OBC quota in central universities and posted the matter for hearing on July 4.

A vacation bench of justices P Sathasivam and A K Patnaik directed that the matter be listed on Monday before the regular bench where the matter was already pending.

A bench headed by Justice R V Raveendran had been seized of the petition which pointed out the confusion prevailing in several universities, including Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Delhi University (DU) where admission process was in full swing.

The regular bench will decide 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 relaxation in the minimum eligibility criteria.

The petitioner P V Indersan, a former professor of IIT Madras, had sought implementation of an earlier apex court verdict by which the constitutional validity of 27 per cent quota for OBC's in the Central Universities was upheld by it on April 10, 2008.

The vacation bench 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.

Senior advocate Indu Malhotra, appearing for the petitioner had submitted that Delhi University is following a different yardstick by which the gap in cut-off for OBC students and general category students should not be more than 10 per cent where as in JNU, the practice of 10 per cent relaxation in minimum eligibility criteria is being followed.

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 category.

Requesting the apex court for an urgent hearing, the petitioner said results of the entrance examination of JNU for the current session have already been declared and interviews are scheduled from July 4 onwards.

The court, however, decided not to give an urgent hearing to the matter and posted it for Monday.

Minister plans to move SC

Meanwhile, the human resource development (HRD) ministry is considering moving the supreme court (SC) for the benefit of students of OBC category seeking admission in Delhi University (DU).

The seats under the quota are currently lying vacant in DU colleges because of the high cut-offs. The minister plans to approach the apex court for revising its order stipulating that OBC cut-offs should be 10 per cent less than those for the general category.

HRD minister Kapil Sibal said it will be difficult to get OBC candidates for the seats if the cut-off is so high.

Last week, a delegation of students and teachers had met Sibal and complained that OBC seats were going empty in DU and 27 per cent reservation for the backward classes was not being implemented. The HRD ministry had shot off a letter to the university and asked for an action- taken report.

According to DU records, the number of OBC seats allocated was 11,902, but only 6,862 quota seats were filled up in 2010-11.