TNN,
Delhi Edition, 07th July 2008
New Delhi: With students queuing up in
colleges for admission after the third cut-off list from
Monday, Delhi University (DU) is hoping the list will click
with OBC candidates too. DU Colleges have had few admissions
in the past fortnight, with barely 25% of seats being filled
in courses. However, amidst the scramble for students in
the OBC category, it seems SC/ST students have got the collateral
benefit.
DU’s increase in sanctioned seats by 27% this year
has resulted in an increase in the actual number of seats
for SC/ST students. Colleges, which give 22.5% reservation
to this category, have given the quota on the total number
of increased seats. Said Pratibha Jolly, principal, Miranda
House, ‘‘This year, there have been more SC/ST
students than before, as the number of seats have gone up.
We are now looking to fill up the OBC seats.’’
For SC/ST students though, the increase has meant access
to more courses and colleges than before. Said SK Vij, dean
of students welfare, ‘‘Actual number of seats
had increased by approximately 11%.’’ For Saket,
a student from Hisar, this increase managed to get him a
seat in a campus college, which his elder brother couldn’t
get. ‘‘My brother took admission two years ago,
but couldn’t get into Hansraj, even though he had
almost the same marks as me,’’ said Saket and
added, ‘‘My friends said it’s because
there are more seats this year that I got through.’’
The OBC admissions however, don’t seem to have had
the same response as the SC/ST admissions. DU sources, however,
claim problems in OBC admissions had been anticipated before,
as only 11% of the applications coming in through the DU
pre-admission forms were from the category. Added a senior
DU official, ‘‘Not everyone who applied would
have come for admission. Students with high marks would
have applied to many colleges, like in the general category.
This led to the impression that there were enough OBC candidates.’’
The disappointing admission numbers have now forced DU to
do a re-check. Sources said while it was too early to take
any decisions, the university may look into giving more
relaxation from next year. Said a senior official, ‘‘This
year, we had gone by the suggestion of the Supreme Court
to keep the relaxation not more than 10% for the OBCs. But,
we may need to increase it for next year’s admissions.’’
With colleges contemplating a fourth list for OBC students
this year, it may be the only solution, feel some DU officials.
