JNU seeks expert panel to look into OBC entry criteria
August 20, 2008 : The Indian Express
The standing committee of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in its meeting with the JNU Student’s Union (JNUSU) decided on Tuesday to recommend to the university vice chancellor that an expert committee should be formed to look into the criteria for admitting students from Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
Members of the standing committee and representatives of the student’s union will be part of the proposed committee, it was announced after the meeting.
The move comes in the wake of JNUSU’s repeated contention that the university had violated the direction on the cut-off relaxation for OBC candidates applying for admission to the premier varsity.
“It was decided in the meeting that the expert committee would decide on ways to fix the cut-off list for the next academic session,¶ a member of the standing committee said on condition of anonymity.
Post-meeting, members of the student’s union, who have been on a hunger strike for the past 11 days demanding filling up of the vacant reserved seats, have now decided to hold another in-house meeting. A decision on whether to continue the hunger strike would be taken at this follow-up meeting, student’s union members said.
“Despite the standing committee meeting, the problem regarding vacant seats in reserved category has not been resolved. So we will continue with our protest; the method has to be decided,¶ said Meera Viswanathan, councilor of JNUSU.
Newsline had reported on Tuesday that the premier varsity’s intake of OBC students has gone down by adhering to the mandatory 27 per cent quota. Compared to 353 OBC students admitted in JNU last year, 157 were admitted as of August 11, three days before the admission process ended.
