A total of 3,158 Other Backward Classes admissions were made against the 7,059 OBC seats available in 31 Delhi University colleges during last year's under-graduate admissions, according to data gathered from Right to Information applications.
The information gathered from RTIs revealed that more than 55 per cent of the seats reserved for OBC students were not filled in 31 colleges of the university.
The data has been obtained by the Academic Forum for Social Justice, an organisation of OBC teachers of Delhi University. The RTI applications were filed in March-April.
Some of the colleges which admitted less than 50 per cent of the allocated seats for OBC students include Indraprastha College for Women, Kamala Nehru College, Ramjas College, College of Vocational Studies, Lady Shri Ram College, Daulat Ram College, Gargi College and others.
Colleges which admitted more than 30 per cent extra in the general category include Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Daulat Ram College, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College , Hans Raj College, Janki Devi Memorial, Maitreyi College, Ram Lal Anand College (evening) among others.
The colleges were allotted around Rs.2 billion as grants and had been sanctioned more than 900 faculty posts. More than half of the 31 colleges overshot the admissions in the general category by over 30 per cent by filling vacant OBC seats. The university has a policy to convert seats, unfilled by OBC candidates, to the general category.
Colleges are required to give up to 10 per cent relaxation in marks compared to the general category cut-off for admission to OBC candidates. However, most colleges do not give a full 10 per cent relaxation, particularly in sought after courses, to avoid a deluge of eligible students for admission.
It has further been pointed out that despite giving relaxation, not an enough number of OBC students have the requisite percentage for admission.
Academic Forum for Social Justice general secretary and Associate Professor in the English Department Dr. Hany Babu said: “Though a full 10 per cent relaxation was given for OBC candidates in the M.A. English course last year, of 97 seats for the OBCs, only 50 could be filled by the category.”
Dr. Babu also voiced his apprehensions regarding the ongoing admission procedure. “It seems that most courses will not give more than 3 or 4 per cent relaxation to OBC candidates. The funds and infrastructure which are meant for OBC candidates should not be diverted. Also OBC candidates should not be made to compete with the general category. Seats amounting to 27 per cent should be kept aside for the OBCs without linkage to the general category and admission to these seats should be made on the basis of merit among OBC candidates,” he added.
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