New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said the vacant seats in IITs, IIMS and other Central institutes
reserved for OBC students should be filled up in same year by the institutions.

Clarifying its judgement, a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said: “Do not wait for three years to fill up the vacant seats. The vacant seats will go to the general category students.”

The court rejected the submission of the Centre which said it would create 9 per cent seats every year amounting to 27 per cent in three years, and at the end of the third year it would fill up the vacant seats with general category students. “Why do you want to keep those seats vacant for three years?’’ asked the bench.

Solicitor Gen G E Vahanvati said the government was considering to give a grace of 5 to 10 pc marks to OBC students in entrance tests for admission to these institutions.

On April 10, 2008, the apex court had upheld the validity of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act, 2006, that provide for 27 per cent reservation to students from other backward communities (OBC).

Senior Advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for petitioners Prof P V Indersan, a former director of IIT-Chennai, submitted that many seats in various IITS, IIMs and Delhi University earmarked for OBC students were lying vacant.

He said students from the BCs had failed to qualify the entrance test for admission to these higher educational institutions run by the Central government.

The petition sought clarification from the court that the cut-off mark limit for admission of students in the OBC quota to Central educational institutions be a maximum of 10 marks below the cut-off for the general category and the vacant seats be reverted to the general category.

CUSTODIAL DEATH, RAPE

Notices on given to States

New Delhi, dhns: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to all the states following an application which alleged that the states have not taken steps to curb custodial deaths and rapes.

A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan asked the states to file their replies in eight weeks. The court observed that there are some states which are yet to set up state units of the Human Rights Commission.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi said many states did not respond to the earlier notice of the Apex Court on the petition. According to a report 7,468 persons, at an average of about four persons per day, have died or have been killed in police custody from 2002 to 2007.