Withhold admission lists till further word: Centre to IIMs

Supreme Court advances hearing to May 8; quota confusion continues.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development today asked the IIMs not to release their admission lists till they hear from it, deepening the crisis following the Supreme Court stay on quota for OBCs. The results could now be delayed by as much as two weeks.

The court today advanced to May 8 the hearing on the constitutional validity of the law providing 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in elite educational institutions. The court was to hear the case in August. This would have meant clarity over this academic session, which would have started according to the last year's quotas.

But now, confusion reigns. The court has to hear the case again to take stock of the government's efforts to satisfy the doubts it has raised. Educationists said it could take the Centre at least five years to enumerate the OBC population and arrive at an exact quota percentage. Such an exercise has not been undertaken since 1931.

The new date has left the premier management institutes in a quandary for another two weeks as thousands of students wait for the results. The agony of the students who have taken the entrance examination has been compounded""while upper-caste students are wondering if the number of seats they will get to compete for will come down, OBC students are no longer sure if they will have to compete for general seats or will be beneficiaries of the quota.

Earlier in the day, HRD Minister Singh said the IIMs would wait for another two, three days, "Which would settle the matter."

Meanwhile, IIMs are in a wait and watch mode. "Though a further delay will upset the academic schedule, we are waiting for a directive from the ministry," Dr Devi Singh, Director, IIM-Lucknow, told Business Standard.

Also, the fate of the preparatory programme that is conducted by the IIMs for economically backward students around three weeks before the start of the academic session is in doubt. IIM officials said in the wake of the delay, students would most likely not get more than a week or ten days to accept the offer letters.

The IIMs had to announce their admission lists on April 12.

Although the results of the IIT Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE) are expected on May 30, there is no clarity about this either, especially if the Supreme Court passes an order on May 8, when it will hear the case.

Late in the night, sources said the ministry was drafting a directive to the IIMs, which would be communicated to the institutes tomorrow.