NEW DELHI: Nearly 160 central institutions might have to initiate admission against newly adopted economically weaker section seats this year without immediate funding support from the Centre.
A proposal to sanction Rs 5,650 crore for these institutions towards building infrastructure and faculty recruitment has not been taken up by the Union Cabinet due to non-approval of the Election Commission.
Sources in the government said that a cabinet note of the proposal was sent by the Union Human Resources Development Ministry before the model code of conduct came into effect early last month, but it could not be taken up in the last Cabinet meeting before the general election dates were announced by the EC.
“And then the cabinet secretariat sent the proposal for the EC for vetting but it has not received a go-ahead yet,” a senior official told this newspaper.
“Unless this sanction comes through, institutions will not get any funding support from the Ministry.”
A total of 158 central institutions, including Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Technology and central universities-are offering 25 % more seats-over two years-to accommodate additional 10 % EWS candidates.
The Centre, in January this year, had adopted a policy of 10 % reservation for EWS candidates from upper castes in admission and jobs and also said that 25 % seats will be increased across institutions to ensure that existing seats in other quotas and general category students are not disturbed.
As per the note sent by the HRD Ministry a total of 2.15 lakh additional seats are to added by 158 institutions over two years, of which 1.19 lakh more admission will happen in the coming academic session.
The demand
The maximum amount of Rs 2,682 crore has been sought by 40 central universities, followed by 23 IITs which have collectively asked for Rs 1,095 crore for 2019-20 and 2020-21.