Yesterday, Wednesday, August 20, a Parliamentary panel recommended a law mandating reservations in private higher education institutions. 

The proposed quotas are 27 per cent for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), 15 per cent for Scheduled Castes (SC), and 7.5 per cent for Scheduled Tribes (ST), following government rules. 

The panel cited low enrolment of students from socially oppressed communities in private universities with Institution of Eminence (IoE) status, Hindustan Times reports.

The union government has conferred IoE status to 20 institutions (10 public and 10 private), providing them with special recognition, more autonomy, and financial support to reach world-class standards.

In its report presented in Parliament on Wednesday, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth, and Sports, led by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, cited various Supreme Court orders to emphasise that reservation for SCs, STs, and OBCs in private educational institutions is "constitutionally permissible”, as highlighted by Hindustan Times.

To implement reservations for SCs, STs, and OBCs in private higher education institutions, the committee requested that the government follow the Right to Education (RTE) Act's 25 per cent quota in private schools model, in which the government reimburses expenses.

Private educational institutions are not currently required by law to establish reservation policies. The panel described the absence of reservations in private educational institutions as an “impediment to attaining social justice in the country.”

“The committee, therefore, recommends that Article 15(5) of the Indian Constitution be implemented in full across the country through legislation by parliament. The committee recommends that 27 per cent, 15 per cent and 7.5 per cent seats should be reserved for OBCs, SCs, and STs, respectively, in private higher educational institutions,” added the report.

Article 15(5), added by the 93rd Constitutional Amendment in 2006, empowers the government to impose reservations for SC, ST, and OBC students in private educational institutions.