With the Supreme Court staying the 27 per cent reservation for candidates of Other Backward Classes in elite central education institutions, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, on Thursday said it will decide on admissions under the quota after getting a communication from the Centre.
"Now the Common Admission Test group will meet soon and decide regarding admission under the OBC quota on the basis of the communication received from the central ministry," IIM-A Director Bakul Dholakia said.
The IIM-A had decided to increase seats in phases over three years to implement the 27 per cent quota.
Dholakia said IIM-A had decided to increase seats by six per cent this year in the first phase on the basis of the Union human resource development ministry's orders.
The IIMs will complete their admission process for this year by April 12, he said.
Sources in IIM-A, however, said it will be impossible for the institute to implement the six per cent OBC quota for this academic year as the next hearing of the case will be held in the apex court only in August, and the admission process will be completed by then.
"If any IIM does that, then it will be contempt of court," a source said.
This means the admission procedure this year will follow the norms for last year without any OBC quota, the sources said.
Noting that the apex court had asked the government to come up with fresh data on OBCs at the next hearing of the case, the sources said this was not going to be an easy task to accomplish.
"The issue is sub judice and it will take some time for the court to decide on it. Now, it is to be seen whether the Supreme Court will allow the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs," a source said.
IIM-A had interviewed 54 candidates for admission to 17 seats in the OBC quota for this year, the sources said.
Dholakia said the date for the CAT group's meeting is yet to be decided.
In reply to a question on future expansion plans of the IIM-A, he said the institute could postpone its expansion if it did not have to increase its capacity on account of the OBC quota this year.