Universities affiliated to state not bound by Centre's OBC list, says court.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ruled that universities affiliated to or established by state governments are not bound to abide only by the Centre’s list of Other Backward Classes (OBC) castes for reservations, but can follow their respective state lists.
The Centre and states differ in their lists of OBCs. All the castes that are recognised by the state under the OBC category are not recognised as OBCs by the Centre.
The order came following a plea filed by OBC students seeking admissions to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha (IP) University. The students claimed that for admissions to its post graduate medical course, the University had offered 27% reservation for OBC students. However, the reservations were valid only for those OBC candidates who come under both the Centre’s as well as the state’s list.
“This reduces our chances of admission since the candidates who belong to classes which do not find inclusion in the central government list are also sought to be granted admission to fill up the seats under the state quota,” the petitioners said.
According to the petition, IP university is a central educational institution and must follow only the central government-notified list of OBCs. The petitioners claimed that the University’s prospectus mentions only the Centre’s caste list for reservations. The University until 2012, reserved seats only for OBCs under the Centre’s list. However, from this session, they have decided to include students eligible under the Delhi government’s list of OBCs.
The High Court, however, dismissed the plea saying that IP University is not a central institution but operates according to an act passed by the Delhi legislative assembly.
“Since the respondent (IP University) is not an institution affiliated to a university established or incorporated by the Central Act, the provisions contained in Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 do not apply to the respondent in its PG medical course,” the court said.
“There is no other statutory provision which requires the respondent to rely only upon the list of OBCs issued by the central government for the purpose of granting reservation for admission,” it said.
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