IIMs await HRD confirmation before releasing admission list

After going through a roller coaster ride of uncertainity with respect to admissions in the Indian Institutes of Management ever since the quota controversy broke out, the student community let out a sigh of relief following the Supreme Court's refusal to vacate the stay on 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in elite educational institutions.

However, in spite of the SC verdict, the IIMs have made it clear that will not release the final admission lists till they receive a communication from the HRD Ministry.

This means that at least for the current academic year, there will be no increased intake in the general category as committed by the IIMs in order to make up for the seats reserved for the OBCs.

"We are awaiting official communication on the Supreme Court verdict from the HRD Ministry . Once we receive the communication, we will decide when to release the final admission list," said Bakul Dholakia, Director, IIM-Ahmedabad. He said he had been trying to contact the directors of the other five IIMs.

"We (IIMs) will talk to each other, if not by tonight then by tomorrow, since we have generally taken such decisions together," he added.

At IIM-Bangalore, the spokesperson told Business Standard that Director Prakash Apte was likely to talk to the directors from other institutes to decide when the admission lists should be released. The director would also speak to the ministry, he said. IIM officials are hopeful that the admission list will be released in the next two to three days.

Speaking to Business Standard, Dr SP Parashar, Director, IIM-Indore, said, "Instead of announcing our lists on April 21, we waited till April 23 with hope that something would come out of the Supreme Court hearing today. But in the light of the court decision, I only expect that the HRD Minstry will give us directions to go ahead with the admissions."

With the latest court order indicating that the OBC quota could be implemented at least for now, Parashar said he expected the admissions process to take place at least according to the last year's capacity.

"Our earlier strength was 180 students and we hope that the government will allow us to fill those number of seats now. The remaining can be filled as and when the issue gets a clearence," he said, a view backed by Devi Singh, Director, IIM-Lucknow. Singh said they were waiting for the government's directive.

Another crucial factor the IIMs will encounter when they sit to decide on the admission date is uniformity in decision-making in terms of how much time should a student be given for accepting the offer letter. Generally, a student gets three weeks. The period might be reduced this year.

Dholakia has said that there is a possibility that students might be given a deadline of even a week or ten days so that there is no further delay in admissions. The spokesperson at IIM-Bangalore also said that all the IIMs should agree on what should be the deadline for the acceptance of the offer.