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New Delhi: The Delhi
High Court Monday exempted four minority colleges of Delhi
University from reserving 27 percent seats for students from Other
Backward Classes (OBCs) for the 2012-13 academic year.
The court's order came while hearing the plea filed by a group of
colleges seeking exemption from reserving 27 percent seats for
students from OBCs, as they were minority-run institutions.
The court said these colleges shall provide reservation in
admission for Schedule Castes/Scheduled Tribes as per the
university's norms, but "they will not be obliged to give
reservation to OBCs".
A division bench of Justice V.K. Jain and Justice Pratibha Rani
said: "We are modifying the order dated 29 May 2012 to the extent
that the appellant (colleges) shall give reservation in admission
for the year 2012-2013 to SC/ST category, as per the norms of DU,
but they will not be obliged to give reservation to OBC."
Four colleges run by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC),
constituted under the Delhi Sikh Gurdwaras Act, approached the
court challenging a single judge's May 29 order directing them to
continue with the admission process in accordance with the DU
guidelines which lay down reservation for the SC/ST and OBC
students.
Accepting the contentions of senior advocate K.T.S. Tulsi that
they were granted the status of minority institutions by the
National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI),
the court said: "We are of the view that the practice, which these
institutions had been following till 2011-2012 for reservation,
should not be change to their (colleges) disadvantage,
particularly when these institutes has already been declared as
minority institutions".
During the hearing, advocate appearing for DU said that
reservation rule of DU for OBC should be followed by these
colleges also.
The colleges - Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, Guru Gobind Singh
College, Mata Sundari College and Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College -
declared minority institutes last year contended that the
reservation policy was not applicable to their institutions in
view of a Supreme Court verdict on OBC reservations.
The apex court had held that minority educational institutions (MEI),
whether they were aided by the government or unaided, were
exempted from reserving seats for OBCs, the colleges said in their
petition.
Appearing for the colleges, senior advocate K.T.S. Tulsi submitted
that the reservation policy was not only contrary to the
constitution but also went against the Central Educational
Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act, 2006.
Noting that the admission procedure for the academic year
2012-2013 has started June 4, the four colleges sought necessary
directions to permit them to continue with the admission process
for this academic year as was being done in the past.
"The appellant (colleges) herein filed an application for
necessary directions, thereby permitting the appellant to continue
with the admission/recruitment process for the academic year
2012-2013, as was being done by the appellant in the past years in
the interest of the academic career of thousands of students who
would apply for admission, so that there should be no ambiguity
with respect to their status of admission," said the petition.
"All along for the past 20-30 years, the Delhi University has
permitted the DSGMC to give preferential treatment to the
religious and linguistic minorities in the appellant colleges.
There is no reason as to why the Delhi University all of a sudden
now wishes to treat the appellant colleges as non-MEIs," the
petition stated.
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