Prakash Yedhula
(Lawyer)
12 August 2007
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[font=arial]1) OBC Quota-Article in Indian Express
WITH the Supreme Court's stay on the 27 per cent OBC quota law likely to come up for a review on Tuesday, the Government, trying to get the stay vacated, has quietly put into motion plans to upgrade infrastructure of higher educational institutions. [/font][/align]
[align=justify][font=arial]Verbal instructions have gone out to start preparing for the upgradation though there's no official communication in writing since there's a court stay on the matter. [/font][/align][font=arial]
[align=justify]Top government sources told The Indian Express that all institutions, covered under the ambit of the 27 per cent OBC quota legislation and expected to upgrade their infrastructure by 54 per cent, have been asked to ""do the groundwork"" - short of awarding contracts and making financial commitments.
""This has been conveyed to save time so that work can begin, as soon as the stay order is vacated,"" the sources said. [/align]
[align=justify]This has been communicated to heads of IITs, IIMs and Central universities under the jurisdiction of the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry. A similar communication has been conveyed to top health and agriculture education institutions by parent ministries, sources said. [/align]
[align=justify]The ""groundwork"" for implementation of upgradation would essentially mean making detailed project reports, identifying locations for new buildings to be used as hostels, laboratories, libraries and so on, finalising designs for such buildings keeping in view their capacity and other such modalities.
Meanwhile, a section in the govern ment has also suggested that Cabinet approval be taken for going ahead with the infrastructure upgradation. ""There is also a move to delink the upgradation exercise from the reservation issue, and get a nod from the Cabinet to upgrade infrastructure in all these higher educational institutions,"" sources said. [/font][/align]
[align=justify][font=arial]While a decision to delink the upgradation and reservation issues is yet to be taken by the government, interministerial consultations are already underway. ""The government's courtroom battle should not affect the higher education infrastructure which badly needs an upgrade. That view has to be endorsed by the Cabinet,"" sources said.
WITH the Supreme Court's stay on the 27 per cent OBC quota law likely to come up for a review on Tuesday, the Government, trying to get the stay va- cated, has quietly put into motion plans to upgrade infrastructure of higher edu- cational institutions. Verbal instructions have gone out to start preparing for the upgradation though there's no official communica- tion in writing since there's a court stay on the matter. Top government sources told The In- dian Express that all institutions, covered under the ambit of the 27 per cent OBC quota legislation and expected to up- grade their infrastructure by 54 per cent, have been asked to ""do the ground- work"" - short of awarding contracts and making financial commitments. ""This has been conveyed to save time so that work can begin, as soon as the stay order is vacated,"" the sources said. This has been communicated to heads of IITs, IIMs and Central univer- sities under the jurisdiction of the Hu- man Resource Development (HRD) Ministry. A similar communication has been conveyed to top health and agri- culture education institutions by par- ent ministries, sources said. The ""groundwork"" for implementa- tion of upgradation would essentially mean making detailed project reports, identifying locations for new buildings to be used as hostels, laboratories, li- braries and so on, finalising designs for such buildings keeping in view their ca- pacity and other such modalities. Meanwhile, a section in the govern- ment has also suggested that Cabinet approval be taken for going ahead with the infrastructure upgradation. ""There is also a move to delink the upgradation exercise from the reservation issue, and get a nod from the Cabinet to upgrade infrastructure in all these higher educa- tional institutions,"" sources said. While a decision to delink the upgra- dation and reserva- tion issues is yet to be taken by the government, inter- ministerial consultations are already underway. ""The government's court- room battle should not affect the higher education infrastructure which badly needs an upgrade. That view has to be endorsed by the Cabinet,"" sources said.
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