IIMs to admit general students, quota for later

Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) will follow a staggered admission process this year. The institutions will admit students from the general list "� comprising all castes and reserved seats for Scheduled castes and tribes "� over the weekend, according to previous schedules.

But IIMs will keep on hold admissions to the seats that have been added till the Supreme Court announces its verdict on May 8. This decision got the sanction at a meeting of the UPA and Left parties here today.

The IIMs have welcomed the government's decision to let them release the admission lists without the OBC quota. In all, IIMs will declare admissions for 1350 seats. 157 seats will be taken up later.

IIM Ahmedabad said it would release the list on Friday if it received an official notification by then, while IIM Bangalore said it would release the list on Friday or Saturday.

The IIMs have been asked to wait till May 8 for the Supreme Court's decision on OBC quotas. If the apex court gives a go-ahead, the IIMs will release a second list with the candidates selected under the OBC quota.

The meeting of political leaders saw the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) argue that all admissions should be announced together and no caste differentiation be made. However, Law Minister HR Bharadwaj and HRD Minister Arjun Singh said that waiting till May 8 would derail the academic schedule.

Both ministers argued that this formula served the interests of justice as well as the objective of social equity.