Bill for OBC quotas goes to House panel

The Central Educational Institutions (reservation in admission) Bill, 2006, tabled in the Lok Sabha today, does not mention the creamy layer and provides for quotas for the entire category of other backward classes. The Bill has been referred to a parliamentary panel.

The Bill offers 27 per cent quota, to be implemented over three years, beginning with the coming academic year and makes sure that the number of seats increased for the general category and OBCs are on a par with each other, as suggested by Oversight Committee Chairman Veerappa Moily. The Bill ensures that the number of seats for the general category is unaffected.

Minority institutions, central institutions in tribal areas and some centres of excellence have been kept out of the purview of the Bill.

The centres excluded are Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, National Brain Research Centre, Manesae, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, Space Physics Laboratory, Ahmedabad, Space Physics Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Science, Shillong, and all 10 institutions under Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai.

Reacting to the Bill, the CPI(M) today said it would continue to press for OBC quotas in unaided educational institutions. CPI(M MP Sitaram Yechury said the Constitutional amendment was specifically meant for unaided institutions because quotas in government-aided bodies could have been implemented through an executive order.

The OBCs constituted 52 per cent of India's population while the reservation granted was 27 per cent. "So for two OBC candidates, there is only one seat. How do you decide which of them two should get the seat?" he said, adding it was necessary that those from weaker financial background be given preference.

The party would raise the issue in the standing committee as also when the Bill was brought for passage in Parliament, he added.

Meanwhile, doctors and medical students in Delhi suspended their anti-quota stir for three months, when the Bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament.