The Aditya Mukherjee-chaired committee mandated to set up the criteria for admission of OBC students to the Jawaharlal Nehru University has decided to stick to its controversial recommendations. This,despite widespread protests from the faculty and students,who have declared a strike against the move on March 18,when the Academic Council will convene. The matter has not been included in the councils agenda but since it has to be ratified before the admission process begins,it is likely to be taken up after discussing all listed items. Newsline had reported on January 4 that the admission process of the JNU,designed by the five-member Mukherjee committee,was responsible for the university filling only 14.2 per cent of its allotted 18 per cent OBC reserved seats this academic year. At present,JNU has a qualifying mark for the OBC candidates in the written entrance exam,which amounts to a relaxation of about five to ten per cent of the qualifying marks for candidates of unreserved category. This is also the cut-off in most Central universities. But following the recommendations of the Mukherjee Committee,the university erected a second barrier for OBC candidates in the form of a cut-off linked to the performance of unreserved category students. S Chandrasekaran,JNUs coordinator of admission,had earlier said the committee had been asked to reconsider its recommendations. However,with Chandrasekaran as observer,it took the committee only about half an hour on March 2 to reaffirm its recommendations. A committee member Prof D K Lobiyal,however,dissented. The decision of the committee does not ensure availability of sufficient number of OBC candidates (for admission), he noted.
