The Centrally governed Universities might have to increase their student intake in order to implement the Economically Weaker Section Quota of reserving 10% seats.
Two meetings were conducted by the Human Resource Development Ministry to discuss different ways to implement the quota in centrally-run institutions including IIT, IIM’s etc. It has been notified that this quota will be introduced from the new academic session starting July.
There were other ways that were discussed during the meeting which also included for the universities to increase their intake by 25% in order to avoid inconvenience and ensure that the 10% reservation is appropriately placed.
For 25% increase the intake, the universities have to increase intake by 8% every year for three years to implement the entire scheme in time.
“Another option is to create 10 percent supernumerary seats. So, if there are 100 seats, we just add 10 more seats, which will be supernumerary in nature. The actual student strength will still be 100,” said a source who did not want to be identified.
Although the Constitutional amendment of Article 15 provides for reservation in private educational institutions as well, it is not clear if the government will implement this immediately.
The 10% seats are reserved only for the person whose family has a gross annual income below Rs 8 lakh. The family includes “the person who seeks the benefit of reservation, his/ her parents, siblings below the age of 18 years, his/ her spouse and children below the age of 18 years”. Also, income will cover all sources such as salary, agriculture, business, and profession.