Following the judgment, a total of 49.5 per cent seats in higher educational institutes would now be in the reserved category. Of this, Scheduled Castes (SCs - 15 per cent) and Scheduled Tribes (STs -- 7.5 per cent) enjoy a 22.5 per cent reservation while OBCs get 27 per cent. This implies that the premier management institutes will have to accommodate students over and above the numbers that it has been admitting so far.
Till date, the IIMs had prepared two admission lists; one with OBC quota candidates and others depending on which way the SC verdict came through but none had bargained for exclusion of the creamy layer. "We had interviewed some OBC students but we had not taken their family background into consideration. We will now have to verify this before we release the final list," said an official from IIM Bangalore. IIM Ahmedabad had prepared a final list of 250 students and is expected to add 17 seats for the OBC quota. IIM Bangalore had admitted 251 students and will add 19 students for the OBC quota.
The decision will also impact 20 central universities and colleges supported by the government. However, unaided private institutions and those run by minorities will not be affected since the court has asked the government to review the 27 per cent quota after five years.
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), on their part, are awaiting a directive from the HRD ministry. If the quota came in place, the IITs were supposed to receive Rs 100 crore each from the government, for the first year, for expansion purpose. However, IIT-Kharagpur is investing Rs 400 crore in its infrastructure expansion in an attempt to double its student and faculty intake and to scale up its academic programmes.The institute, at present, has 7,000 students and 500 faculty, which would be doubled in the next five years. By 2010, IIT-Kharagpur plans to accommodate 2,000 additional students. IIT-Kharagpur will build 200 new classrooms with a total capacity of 24,000 students. It will also add 200 tutorial classrooms to accommodate 12,000 students.
"It is too early to say anything. Although we are prepared for some increase in the student intake the exact numbers can only be known after some time," Surendra Prasad, director, IIT-Delhi, said.
