The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that seats remaining vacant after the implementation of 27 per cent Other Backward Classes quota in central educational institutions will have to be allotted to the general category by the end of this month and that there cannot be any carry forward.

The direction by a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan came when it disagreed with the Centre's stand that the unfilled OBC seats can be accumulated for three years before being allotted to the general category.

"The vacant seats cannot be filled in a staggered manner," the Bench said, adding "how can educational seats be carried forward".

Solicitor General G E Vahanvati said the Centre will abide by the decision of the court.

Anti-quota petitioners had drawn the attention of the bench that even after the implementation of the law--the Central Educational Institution Act (Reservation in admission)--seats have remained vacant and there was a confusion over it.

The court's direction came during a discussion on the creamy layer which started after the bench finally arrived at the decision that instead of 10 marks the difference in cut-off marks between OBC candidates and general category cannot be more than 10 per cent.

The bench on September 15 had observed that huge difference in the cut-off marks would be "counter-productive" to the excellence of the educational institutions.