The 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections among the general category will be implemented across all colleges and universities, including private institutions, from the 2019-20 academic year, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has said.
This quota will be over and above the existing quotas for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes, which will also be implemented in private institutions, Mr. Javadekar said on Tuesday.
It is, however, unclear that a new legislation or an executive order would be passed to implement the quota for admissions in this academic year.
By saying that the quota would be implemented “across 40,000 colleges and 900 Universities in the country”, Mr. Javadekar made it clear that private institutions would also come under its ambit. The SC, ST and OBC quotas will also be mandated in private institutions across the country through this measure, he said.
“In the 2019-20 academic session, we will have this 10% reservation without disturbing, [while] keeping intact the SCs, STs and OBC reservation. This will be given in addition, by creating additional seats,” said Mr. Javadekar. He estimated that the seat increase would be to the tune of 25% more seats.
“Colleges will be asked to include this information in their prospectus. The UGC and AICTE will be provided the operational mandate within a week to implement the quota,” he said.
The income criteria for the EWS quota would be set at a gross annual household income of ₹8 lakh, said a senior Ministry official.
While the 93rd Constitutional Amendment enabled the provision of 27% reservation for OBCs in both public and private educational institutions, the Central Educational Institutes Amendment Act of 2006 only mandated the implementation of the OBC quota in centrally-funded institutions. Private players in several States do not implement the OBC quota.
7th Central Pay Commission
In another decision, the 7th Central Pay Commission will now be extended to the teachers and other academic staff of state and state government-aided degree level technical institutions. As the Centre will reimburse 50% of the total additional expenditure to be incurred by these institutes for payment of arrears, the Centre will bear an additional liability of Rs. 1241.78 crore, said Mr. Javadekar.