Set up 3 IIMs, review quota every 5 years: Panel

The Oversight Committee, which was asked to prepare a roadmap for implementing quota for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in elite central educational institutions, on Wednesday suggested a review of implementation of reservation policy every five and ten years but skipped a decision on the controversial issue of "creamy layer".

It also recommended the setting up of three new Indian Institutes of Management.

"We have left the creamy layer issue to the government. Though we have said in the interim report that we will take a view on the issue in the final report, we are not making any reference," M Veerappa Moily, chairman of the committee said after a meeting of the panel.

The Committee's decision to leave the creamy layer issue untouched assumes importance in view of divergent views expressed by political parties. While CPI(M) favoured exclusion of creamy layer in the quota regime, UPA's southern allies like DMK and PMK strongly advocated its inclusion.

The meeting, which lasted for over eight hours, also completed its final report, which would be submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.