The University Grants Commission clearly mentions that there will be reservation for the candidates from the OBC category in the hostels. However, most of the postgraduate hostels do not notify or implement the stipulated reservation policy.
The University of Delhi (DU) has come under the scrutiny of students due to the inability of the authorities to provide reservations to candidates from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota in hostels. The University has a number of hostels under its fold namely D.S. Kothari Hostel, Gwyer Hall, Jubilee Hall, Mansarover Hall, Post Graduate Men’s Hostel, and VKRV Rao.
A group of students from the University came together against this mismanagement and have demanded reservation rights to the OBC category in hostel accommodations. The University Grants Commission (UGC) had circulated the Central Educational Institutions Reservation in Admission) Act 2006 and Amendment Act, 2012 to all central educational institutions directing them to reservation provisions including the admission of OBC students to these institutions.
However, most of the hostel notifications do not mention OBC reservations for the postgraduate students in DU. Satchit, a student of Cluster Innovation Centre, and a resident of Post Graduate Men’s Hostel spoke to DU Beat about this matter. He said, “My department provides five seats to be allotted in the hostel- two seats for candidates belonging to the general category, two for candidates from the OBC quota, and one for SC/ST candidate. But the hostels do not have reservations per day. The department provides reservation from their end, but the hostels have no such policy. Thus, even if an OBC student has been allotted a hostel seat, he may not necessarily get it.”
According to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), the University Grants Commission has issues instruction to all the grant-in-aid institutions, funded by the Government except minority institutions under Article 30(1) of the Constitution of India to implement 27% reservation for the OBC candidates.
“As per the information available with the Ministry, during 2015-16, 22 out of 40 Central Universities have successfully achieved the prescribed percentage of student intake from OBC Community,” the MHRD told the Parliament two years ago.
The Ministry further added, “All Indian Institutes of Technology/National Institutes of Technology/Indian Institutes of Information Technology achieved the stipulated 27 % intake of OBC students. Further, 13 Indian Institutes of Management out of 19 and 22 out of 31 National Institutes of Technology recorded more than the stipulated 27% student intake.”
“The Ministry of Human Resource Development through UGC instructs Universities/Institutions to furnish periodic reports on the implementation of reservation guidelines for OBCs for admissions to courses at all level and Hostel accommodation for students,” it said.
(With inputs from NDTV)
Feature Image Credits: DU Beat
Stephen Mathew
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