Despite the sound and the fury outside, all UPA members and Left parties today decided that the Bill to introduce 27% OBC quotas in Central institutions will be brought in the monsoon session of Parliament to allow its implementation from the academic year 2007.

Simultaneously, the number of seats will also be increased in these institutions to ensure the interest of “all sections” and an “Oversight Committee” will be set up to fix deadlines for its implementation.

The decision, announced after a UPA-Left coordination committee meeting, backed by across-the-board political consensus brushes aside the National Knowledge Commission’s objections.

Apart from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the meeting was attended by Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sharad Pawar, Arjun Singh, Shivraj Patil, Ram Vilas Paswan and Jaipal Reddy. The Left leaders who attended included the CPM’s Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury, CPI’s A B Bardhan and D Raja, RSP’s Abani Roy and Forward Bloc’s Debabrata Biswas.

After the meeting, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that while the “Oversight Committee” would be at the helm, smaller groups comprising deans, directors and vice-chancellors of institutions concerned would work out details of implementation for each class of institution.

“The Oversight Committee will put together the recommendations of these groups and submit a comprehensive report by August 31,” Mukherjee said.

Sources said that the decision to bring in the legislation was unanimous as was the one to raise the number of seats in institutions, evidently keeping in view anxieties of students from other categories.

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