With the HRD Ministry beginning the exercise of preparing its budgetary demands for implementing 27 per cent OBC quota, vice-chancellors of Central universities are already on revolt. At a meeting of the Empowered Committee, several V-Cs strongly protested against what they described “inadequate financial projections” in the Veerappa Moily Oversight Committee Report.

At a meeting chaired by UGC chairman S K Thorat on Thursday, several V-Cs expressed inability to carry on the required infrastructure expansions with Rs 809 crore, as proposed by the Moily committee. A source present at the meeting told The Indian Express that Hyderabad University V-C Dr Syed E Hasnain even threatened to resign if he was asked to carry out the expansion with the current fund projections. “I cannot do that. Either you increase the allocation realistically or find someone else who can do it,” the V-C reportedly told the meeting. Moily report has proposed Rs 7.77 crore for HCU.

A sub-group of the Moily committee, headed by Syed Hamid, had proposed a sum of Rs 2,700 crore for 17 Central universities under non-recurring infrastructure expenses. But, in the final report, the figure was cut to Rs 809 crore. The HRD Ministry has already begun preparing budgetary demands based on the Oversight Committee’s projections, and Vice-chancellors say this is unrealistic.

To implement 27 per cent OBC reservation—maintaining the existing number of non-reserved seats as promised by the Union Government—a 54 per cent increase in intake is required across the board. The Moily committee, mandated to bring out a roadmap for implementation of the same, had projected a total expenditure of 18,000 crore of which Rs 809 crore is for Central universities. Five sub-groups studied detailed project reports from individual institutions and arrived at expenditure projections for sectors.

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