Nearly 700 seats reserved for scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs) and other backward classes (OBCs) are lying vacant at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) this year after the first allotment of seats.
The older IITs are in the process of implementing the last phase of the 27 per cent reservation for OBC candidates this year while the eight new IITs are implementing the quota at one go. Numbers are hard to come by since the newer IITs have not shared complete figures. However, it’s estimated there are nearly 6,000 seats reserved for quotas at all the IITs.
The IITs had set aside 2,570 seats for OBCs, but only 2,023 were filled, according to T S Natarajan, chairman of the joint entrance examination (JEE) at IIT Madras — the institute which conducted the JEE this year. Of the 2,570 seats under the OBC category, 78 (around 3 per cent) are reserved for students with physical disabilities. Of the remaining 2,492 seats, only 2,023 have been filled.
For scheduled tribe (ST) candidates, 212 seats are lying vacant this year after the first allotment. SC/ST candidates, along with students with physical disabilities get 50 per cent relaxation from the last general category candidate. Another 50 per cent relaxation is given to those who do not qualify so that they can be sent for the one-year preparatory course. The one-year preparatory course for SC/ST candidates is offered to improve their intake in the BTech and dual degree programmes.
Gautam Barua, director of IIT Guwahati, says: “Our SC seats have not been filled up this year in the first allotment because a lot of candidates did not qualify. We have nine vacancies in the SC quota now.” This year, IIT Guwahati has set aside 297 seats for general candidates, 159 for OBCs, 88 for SCs and 44 for STs. In the second allotment, however, IIT Guwahati has around 25 ST preparatory candidates from last year, some of who are expected to fill up the vacancies.
The situation is similar at IIT Roorkee. U P Singh, chairman of JEE at IIT Roorkee, says: “We have 36 vacant seats in ST and 23 vacant seats in PD this year after the first allotment. The second allotment is on July 16 when seats should get filled up.”
Generally 30 to 40 candidates from the non-qualified candidates list in the ranking order of JEE are taken. In addition to the Preparatory Course for SC/ST candidates, Physically Disabled (PD) candidates are also allowed to undergo the preparatory course. The joint admission committee finally decides the admission of these students.
Of the 127,760 OBC candidates who appeared for the JEE this year, only 2,357 could qualify which created a shortfall of over 200 candidates. Of those who qualified, 868 candidates had to be selected by giving 10 per cent relaxation. The remaining 1,489 made it to the list on merit. However, despite the relaxation, the IITs could not fill up all the reserved seats. The IITs believe the second allotment, expected around July 16, would fill up most vacancies.
This year, some candidates did not make it despite a relaxation in the cut-off marks. Moreover, while some candidates could not establish their OBC status, others got the courses of their choice as general category students. The vacant seats will be transferred to the general category or taken up by the candidates from last year’s preparatory course.
Of the 15,975 ST candidates who took the JEE this year, only 517 qualified to seek admission to 712 seats. Of these, 498 had to be selected by giving 50 per cent relaxation. In 2009, over 1,000 seats reserved for SCs and STs remained vacant and had to be transferred to the preparatory course and were filled after lowering the entry criteria by another 50 per cent.
