With the Supreme Court today making clear that it will only hear on April 23 the Government application seeking vacation of its stay on implementation of 27 per cent OBC reservation in institutes of higher education, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have begun moves to avert a confrontation with the Government on the issue.

IIM-Ahmedabad had earlier said the IIMs would not wait for Central directives beyond April 21 and would put out the admission list for the next session.

But The Indian Express has learnt that directors of all six IIMs have now decided to hold a meeting in New Delhi on April 20. They are also expected to explain their position to Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh.

Sources said the HRD Ministry has indicated to all six IIMs that the Government may be forced to invoke its powers — under the Memorandum of Association (MoA) with the IIMs — to prevent them from declaring the merit list on April 21.

The Government, counting on vacation of the stay order, knows it can do nothing before its petition comes up for hearing on April 23. In fact, the Government was asked by the court today to satisfy itself that its plea was not for a review of the March 29 interim order which had stayed OBC quota implementation.

Trying to get an early hearing, Solicitor General G E Vahanvati mentioned the Government’s petition before a Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and L S Panta which said the essence of the application appeared to be seeking a review of its March 29 order.

... contd.