NEW DELHI: The upper caste quota law will be applicable to all higher education institutions — private and government — from the upcoming academic session, Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar said on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters here, the Minister said that the existing quota for the SC/ ST and OBC will remain intact and will not be affected by the implementation of the new provision of 10 per cent quota for people from the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) among the upper castes.
The 10 per cent quota bill was passed in both Houses of Parliament last week and after receiving the Presidential assent, the government notified the amendment bill in its official gazette. The Constitution (103 Amendment) Act, 2019 came into force on Monday.
“We had a a meeting today (Tuesday) with the officials from the AICTE and UGC… The reservation based on economic status will be applicable from the 2019-20 academic session. Directions will be issued to the educational institutions to include the provision in their prospectus for this year.
“This quota will be implemented in the 40,000 colleges and about 900 universities in the country,” Javadekar said.
The private sector was cautious in its reaction to Tuesday’s announcement.
“This (reservation in private educational institutions) requires a legal process to be followed. The Centre will have to pass a law and then the state assemblies will have to do the same. If the government follows the legal process, we (private institutions) will follow it,” said H Chaturvedi, director of Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH), a business school in Noida, reported The Indian Express.
With agency inputs