minimum eligibility percentage for admission in central universities for OBC category should be at most 10 per cent less than that of general category students.
The apex court bench of Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice A.K. Patnaik said this while upholding a Delhi High Court judgment of Sep 7, 2010.
The apex court verdict came on a petition by a former director of Indian Institute of Technology-Chennai P.V. Indiresan who challenged the high court verdict.
The bench ruled that the eligibility criteria for OBC category students should not be decided on the basis of admission given to the last candidate in general category. The apex court however, clarified that there would be no disturbances in the admissions which have already been done by the universities for this academic session.
The apex court clarified that the 10 percent relaxation being given to OBC students did not mean that it will be 10 percent less than the marks obtained by the last student admitted under the general category.
“If any central educational institution has already determined the cut-off marks for OBCs with reference to the marks secured by the last candidate in the general category, and has converted the unfilled OBC seats to general category seats and allotted the seats to general category candidates, such admissions shall not be disturbed”, Justice Raveendran said that for the academic year 2011-12.
The judgment said that in institutions “where the process of conversion (of OBC seats to general category) and allotment is not completed, the OBC seats shall be filled by OBC candidates”.
The court said that the OBC seats could still be converted to general category. “Only if OBC candidates possessing the minimum eligibility/qualifying marks are not available in the OBC merit list, the OBC seats shall be converted into general category seats.”
In such institutions, if the last date for admissions has expired, the last date for admissions shall be extended till Aug 31, as a special case, to enable admissions to the vacant OBC seats.
The apex court said that the use of words “cut-off marks” in that order did not refer to the marks secured by the last candidate to be admitted in the general category or in any particular category.
The judgment said that the minimum marks to be possessed by OBC candidates could not be determined by calculating 10 percent relaxation with reference to the marks secured by the last candidate admitted under the general category.
The Court while clarifying the term cut off said that if the minimum eligibility for general candidates is 50 then it shall be not less than 45 for the OBCs. If it 40 for the general category then it shall be not less than 36 for OBCs.