Post quota IITs needs infrastructure, faculty

However, IITs are yet to upgrade their physical infrastructure and increase faculty members to cope with the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs as per the Supreme Court8217;s directives, said Prof Venkataramani, Chairman, IIT-JEE. Provisions had been made in the admission application forms for the OBC students, he said.

Even in 2007, 14 per cent of general category students were from OBCs, he said. Venkataramani, however, declined to comment on the cut off percentage in the OBC.

A meeting may be soon held between IIT faculty members and the HRD Ministry officials to discuss quota-related issues, sources said.

Although mentally, the IITs were prepared for the OBC quota since 2007, they had to work on strengthening the physical infrastructure and improving the faculty strength in order to implement the SC order, the administrators said.

They said it was easier for IIMs to expand their infrastructure but the IITs have to get more equipped laboratories, classrooms as well as student accommodation besides additional fund as the OBC students may not be charged any fee just like SC/STs.

The IITs had recently indicated that they may hike the fee for general category students. In Mumbai, of the total 5,300 students, the IIT has accommodation for only 4,200. In many cases two students share a 100 sq ft room, an official said.

8220;In addition, extra laboratories have to built and all these need more land. We have asked for more land from the State Government and awaiting their response. We hope after the Supreme Court order things will move faster,8221; the official said.

IIT, Chennai Director M S Anant said his institute can accommodate only one third of the OBC quota in 2008 and was awaiting nod for infrastructural expansion from the HRD Ministry for full implementation from 2009.

Director, IIT Mumbai, Ashok Misra said the student/ teacher ratio was another area of concern. Currently, the teacher/student ratio is 1:12 which should ideally be 1:9. It is feared that the ratio would now go up to 1:15 which is not desirable, he said.

Almost 1,000 faculty member vacancies are to be filled up in all the IITs. In Mumbai alone 146 faculty members have to be appointed, Misra said. 8220;In fact, we need more than this number to keep the ideal teacher/student ratio.8221; Some administrators in IIT Kanpur, Kharagpur, Mumbai and Delhi indicated there was a possibility that the OBC quota may be rolled out in a phased manner in the next five years.

8220;But all depends on what kind of instructions we get from the HRD Ministry,8221; they added.