IIM directors discussing reservation issue

     Ahmedabad: The directors of the six Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) are meeting to discuss the issue of proposed reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the leading IIMs and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) here. The IIM director in Ahmedabd, Bakul Dholakia, told that the media would be informed about the results of the meeting after the discussion gets over. Union Human Resource Minister Arjun Singh has announced a plan to implement 27 percent reservation in Central institutions, after the Assembly elections in five states are over. Dholakia said that the directors of all IIMs and admission chairmen of these institutes would take part in the meeting. One of the issues on the agenda was the review of the Common Admission Test (CAT) examination.

    The meeting assumes significance, as it comes a few days after the Arjun Singh's proposal for 27 percent reservation of OBCs in academic institutes in various fields, and not just confining to IIMs, IITs. The new proposal might increase the total number of reserved seats among academic institutions to 49.5 percent. This has brought unrest amongst the students. The proposed hike once enforced will bring the current reservation quota of 25.5 percent to 49.5 percent. With the current reservation, the three top IIMs (Ahmedabad, Calcutta and Bangalore) are losing 210 seats; after the additional 27 percent hike, the loss will go up to 420 seats. The IIM Ahmedabad, had raised concern against the government for its intervention in the affairs of the institute.

EC to review Arjun Singh's reply

      New Delhi: The three-member Election Commission, headed by Chief Election Commissioner BB Tandon, is meeting in a short while from now to review the reply given by HRD Minister Arjun Singh on the Government's decision to reserve a further 27 percent seats in higher educational institutions to Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Informed sources at the Election Commission confirmed that they were in receipt of Singh's reply to the Commission's query on whether the Model Code of Conduct was being violated in five states going to polls through the HRD Ministry's reservation decision. On Sunday, Singh refuted the Election Commission's charge that he had violated the Model Code of Conduct for elections by announcing a proposal for 27 per cent reservation for the Other Backward Classes in Central educational institutions, when the election process was on in five States and a Union Territory. He said a decision on the percentage of reservation of seats was yet to be taken.

      In his reply to the explanation sought by the Election Commission through the Cabinet Secretary, Singh said it was "unfortunate'' that the Commission had gone by media reports. He said he had responded to specific questions by the press on when the Government planned to announce the decision. "There was no announcement of any concession, much less any other breach of the model code of conduct ... There is no basis even for prima facie view to that effect. What is more, it has also been concluded [by EC] that it prima facie violates the model code of conduct without mentioning which provision of the model code the Commission had in view,'' Singh said. In its communication to the Cabinet Secretary on Saturday, the Commission said Singh's announcement prima facie amounted to a breach of the Model Code as it gave new concessions to certain sections of the electorate in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Pondicherry.

     Singh told the Commission that he had refrained from making a comment to the media on the reservation issue precisely on the ground that the election process was under way in some States. He said it was in reply to a specific question by the media after an NCERT function on April 5 that he made a reference to the Constitutional Amendment and made it clear that necessary follow- up action was under way and a decision would follow after the Assembly elections. The Minister said Article 15(5) of the Constitution came into force on January 20 this year when it received the Presidential assent. "Thus, the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens in matters of admission - including reservation of seats and any other means - is an existing constitutional scheme and by no stretch of imagination a new announcement.'' "I categorically deny that at any time before or on April 5, 2006, or subsequently, any announcement has been made in respect of any percentage of reservations in favour of any sections of the society or [I] have said anything on the matter which is not already in the public domain or which is inconsistent with the all-party consensus arrived at in Parliament leading to the Constitutional Amendment,'' he said.

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