Candidates under minority sub quota may lose IIT seats

A number of students who have already been counseled for IIT entrance under the minority sub quota are now at risk of losing their places, following a Supreme Court decision that refused to stay a Hyderabad court ruling that struck down the quota. Following the order, IITs put the quota on hold and decided to offer seats to students under the OBC quota instead. The 4.5 sub quota is carved from the 27% OBC quota, which translated to 441 seats this year. IIT-JEE organizing committee chairman Prof G B Reddy spoke to Times of India and said, “The minority quota will not be implemented this year but all the students who have been shortlisted will be accommodated in the OBC quota list. The first list for allocation of seats will be released on Thursday.’’ [caption id=“attachment_347407” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The students have been counseled, but may not get their seats: AFP”]  [/caption] The move means that students who have already been counseled under the sub quota may not get the courses of their choosing, and even risk the possibility of losing their seats altogether. Counseling was concluded on 11 June. The minority sub quota has been roundly slammed by the opposition, and  even caused a backlash against the government by those who were supposed to be its beneficiaries. In this _Firstpost_ story it was revealed that Muslim community leaders blame the Centre for its ‘casual attitude’ in handling the issue. The Centre’s inability to defend its stand before the SC, they say, has exposed it was never serious about reservation and that sub-quota announcement was a poll gimmick. Dr Zafarul Islam Khan, president of All India Muslim Majlis-Mushwarat, an umbrella body of Indian Muslim organizations, slammed the government for lack of home work for defending its decision before the court. “The government’s callous attitude was clear when it sent a junior lawyer to defend its case in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The government is hesitant about reservation and has been sleeping on the Rangranath Mishra committee report for all these years. The Supreme Court has admitted the government’s plea justifying why the sub quota should not be struck down, but the fact that it refused to stay the Hyderabad court decision means that there can be no admissions under the sub quota this year.