Jamia forms panel to look into quota

The Jamia Millia Islamia on Tuesday formed a committee to look into the Supreme Court verdict clearing 27 per cent reservation for candidates belonging...

The Jamia Millia Islamia on Tuesday formed a committee to look into the Supreme Court verdict clearing 27 per cent reservation for candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes in higher educational institutions. According to Rakhshanda Jalil, PRO, the committee will look into the 8220;pros and cons of its implementation8221; in Jamia.

8220;Right now, that is all we can disclose. We will have to wait till the report is formulated,8221; she said while maintaining that Jamia is not a minority institute although its status is yet to be determined by the National Commission for Minority Institutions. 8220;The next hearing is in July but until the Commission comes up with the verdict, Jamia will be treated as a Central University,8221; Jalil said.

At present, JMI has 15 reservation for SCs, 7.5 for STs and 25 for its internal students studying in its schools. If 27 OBC quota is implemented, it shall cross the limit of 50 and reach 74.5. This has drawn sharp criticism from different organisations that claim that JMI is a minority institute, and so it does not need to abide by the Supreme Court order.

8220;The Executive Council meeting on May 9, 1997, had passed a resolution stating that Jamia is a Muslim minority institution,8221; says Syed Izhar-ul Hasan, member of Jamia Old Boys Association and president of an NGO, Maulana Azad Educational and Welfare Organisation. Hasan is one of those fighting for 50 implementation of Muslim reservation in JMI.

According to him, even if the administration tries to implement 74.5 quota, it may be possible in near future that these reservations may be challenged in the court of law as earlier 5 Urdu quota and 5 Jamia employees ward quota were struck off by Delhi High Court.

According to sources, the convenor of the Committee will be Prof Mohd Miyan, Director, Centre for Distance and Open Learning. The Committee shall include Prof Sharfuddin, Department of Mathematics; Prof Sudeep Banerjee, Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies; Prof Zubair Meenai, Dean Students8217; Welfare; Prof S Inayat Ali Zaidi, Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Languages and S M Afzal, Registrar. The committee will submit its report within a month.