IIMC interviews stayed

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday stayed a memorandum by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry granting reservation for candidates belonging to the other backward classes (OBC) in postgraduate courses in Central institutions of higher learning.

The court also restrained the holding of interviews of OBC candidates for admission to the postgraduate courses in the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC) scheduled for Thursday.

Justice Maharaj Sinha, in an interim order, granted the stay following a petition by Sayan Guha, a candidate of the general category, challenging the HRD Ministry’s office memorandum as well as the interview called by the IIM-C. The matter will be taken up for hearing on June 9. The IIM-C had scheduled the special interview of OBC candidates pursuant to the Ministry’s memorandum.

Mr Guha’s counsel submitted before the court that the HRD Ministry’s office memorandum and subsequent reservation clause were in violation of the April 10 Supreme Court order on reservation for OBC candidates that had also set a yardstick for such quotas in Central higher educational institutions.

They submitted that while the apex court had observed that graduates would not be considered for reservation in the postgraduate courses, the HRD Ministry had violated the order and issued an office memorandum to the effect that OBC students would get reservation in postgraduate courses.