Quota for locals at state-run DU colleges?

In a first step towards providing quota to locals in Delhi University, the state government has recommended reservation of 90% seats for Delhi students in 12 colleges funded completely by it.

In a first step towards providing quota to locals in Delhi University, the state government has recommended reservation of 90% seats for Delhi students in 12 colleges funded completely by it.

The government has also proposed to reserve 50% seats for locals in 16 more colleges that get 50% grant for capital work and 5% as recurring grant from it.

The recommendations will be sent to Delhi University and the ministries of home affairs and human resource development for approval.

The colleges include Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Maharaja Agarasen College and Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies.

“The Delhi high court heard arguments in relation to a PIL on giving reservation to Delhi students and as per the directions of the court, we have formulated these recommendations. We will send these to the university and MHA for consideration,” said Delhi Higher Education Minister AK Walia.

Reservation of seats for students from Delhi has been a burning issue for many years with student parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party supporting the demand.

Delhi BJP chief Vijay Goel said his party had been talking about it for the past three years. “We have included this point very prominently in our Delhi declaration for higher education and will include it in our manifesto,” Goel said.

The proposal, which has come just ahead of Assembly elections in Delhi, may help the Congress earn some brownie points. But experts believe it may even backfire in the long run.

Delhi University has maintained that reservation for a region is against the law as it is a Central university. In state universities such as Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Ambedkar University, 85% seats are reserved for Delhi students.

Similar reservation policies are followed in other state universities across the country.

“This does not seem possible. Delhi University is a Central university and can’t reserve seats for students from any region. The constitution of the university will either have to rewritten or these colleges will have to leave the Delhi University fold,” said a Delhi University official.