Bill for SC, ST, OBC quotas in central institutes passed

A key bill to provide reservation to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Caste under state seats in central education institutes in tribal areas was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

The Central Educational Institutions (reservation in admission) was adopted by voice vote after Human Resource Department Minister Kapil Sibal allayed concerns expressed by members regarding the quota, saying 27 reservation for the OBCs will be fully implemented in central institutions.

The Principal Act (the central educational institutions reservation in admission) Act, 2006, requires institutions to increase the total number of seats in such a manner that the number of unreserved seats (general category) is not reduced due to reservation for OBCs. This was based on the number of seats available for general category before the Act was passed.

The Principal Act states that in case the central government decides that a central educational institution is not able to increase the seats to its annual permitted strength due to financial, physical or academic limitation, it may allow such institutions to increase the seats within three years. The Bill increases the time period to six years.

It states that reservation of seats shall begin in 2007 while the new Bill amends this to 2008. Thus, the time frame has been extended to 2014 from 2010.