Lala College gets minority status

May 27: The Bombay High Court recently granted the Lala Lajpatrai College of Commerce and Economics at Haji Ali minority status. As per the judgement, passed by a division bench comprising Justices Sam Variava and P D Upsani, the college management has now been authorised to reserve 50 per cent of seats for students of the Punjabi community.

The petition was filed last year by the college trustees after an earlier petition for acquiring minority status was dismissed by the state directorate of technical education early last year. 8220;In March 1996, we had also approached the University of Mumbai to apply for minority status, but the matter remained suspended and we could not reserve 50 per cent of seats for Punjabi students in 1996-97,8221; said principal M G Shirahatti. The trust said since the college was established by Punjabis and since the managing committee also comprised only Punjabis, they had the right to gain minority status.