Union HRD minister, Arjun Singh on Friday, 11 April 2008 pronounced that the 27 per cent quota for OBC reservation is applicable to the IIMs and IITs as well. The HRD minister’s statement came in wake of yet another controversy created around the legislation, when a Cabinet minister disagreed privately that the ruling is not applicable to post-graduate institutions. The issue however needs to be sorted out soon as in a time of another month or two, the admission process for post-graduate institutes is going to begin. 

 

Mr. Arjun Singh made the statement after meeting prime minister Manmohan Singh on Friday, a day after the historic verdict. There are other issues also associated with the Thursday Supreme Court ruling, which have to be interpreted in a universal way by the government. Many of the Congress allies in the UPA government are not happy about the exclusion of the creamy layer in the ruling.

 

Union Health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss who has been a strong advocate of the OBC reservation has expressed that excluding the creamy layer from the purview of reservation would considerably dilute the intent of the quota. Another contentious issue related to the SC ruling is that, the court has clearly stated that the difference for the cut off for eligibility should not be more than 5 percent between OBC and General category students. Despite HRD minister’s statement however it is still not clear whether post graduate institutes are going to be exempted from 27 per cent OBC reservation.