After seats are caste aside...

The supreme court order upholding implementation of the additional 27% quota for OBCs in higher education comes as no surprise to the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM), but it will delay the admission process in the institutions by at least a week.

IIM-Ahmedabad director Prof Samir Barua said the institute is yet to receive a formal communiqué from the HRD ministry, but is prepared to accommodate the first phase of increase in seats this academic year. “Most critical is clarification about timeframe (immediate complete implementation or three-phased). We are yet to see the court order so it would be difficult to comment on when and how the implementation will happen. If there is a time frame, we will have to make heavy adjustments and some compromises as well, but if it is phased—as proposed— we are well prepared,” Barua said.

Officials claim the institute is prepared to implement the first phase of the quota, which is 6%, and students’ interviews have been taken accordingly. The additional quota will result in an increase of 30 seats this academic year 2008-09, including a commensurate increase of general category seats as well.

However, the immediate impact is that the list of shortlisted candidates, which was to be uploaded on the IIMs’ website on Friday, will be delayed by atleast a week. Barua said all the six directors will meet and take a collective decision on when the revised list will be released.

Chairman (admission) of IIM-Calcutta, Professor Subrata Mitra said that IIM-Calcutta too will not have much difficulty implementing the order. “The quota has to be implemented in three phases over three years, with total additional intake at 54%. So in the first year, we will accommodate nine from the reserved quota, which would not be a major hassle,” Mitra said.

IIM Bangalore (IIM-B) insisted that it welcomed the court’s verdict on the 27% reservation, the institute is worried about funding, inadequate infrastructure and faculty and the imminent delay in the admission process. IIM-B director Pankaj Chandra said,

“Our country needs to provide quality education to the underprivileged and the quota system helps achieve that aim. But we need funds for additional infrastructure and develop faculty for new admissions. We are awaiting a notification from the government on guidelines to implement the verdict,” he said.

However, he added that IIM-B will start the academic year on time even if admission procedure for OBCs is not complete. “We will later check backgrounds of those who applied for IIM-B and interview them. The problem is we have to find 18 students who qualify. Unless we have a dialogue with the HRD ministry it is difficult to arrive at a decision,” he said.

It was the previous IIM-A regime headed by former director Prof Bakul Dholakia which proposed the quota be implemented in three phases along with a commensurate increase in non-reserved seats. So the total increase in seats would be 54% — 12% in the first year, 24% in the second year and 18% in the third year.

Most of the institutes prefer the staggered way. “We cannot implement the 27% quota in one go. It has to be done in a phased manner,” said Prof Surendra Prasad, director, IIT-Delhi. An IIT-Kharagpur spokesperson said the institute was awaiting the HRD ministry’s notification. IIM-Lucknow too said it would implement the quotas in three years. “But we have adequate infrastructure to initiate the process,” said Devi Singh, director, IIM-L.

Not all are prepared to handle the new admissions. While Jawaharlal Nehru University, and IIT-Delhi have started constructing hostels, work in Delhi University is yet to begin. AIIMS has neither started construction of extra space for new students nor recruitment of teachers.

With inputs from Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri (Kolkata), Bhargavi Kerur (Bangalore), Jumana Shah (Ahmedabad), Vineeta Pandey (Delhi)