On the contrary, overall the reservation of OBC under the central reservation policy has been implemented and this is a misfortune for our state,” said Radhachara Deb Barma, Executive Member in charge of Education in TTAADC.

 

Debbarma threatened to resort to mass protest against the Congress and the UPA government’s decision on the implementation of the Central reservation policy in NIT Agartala.

“We shall unmask the Congress which has double standards. In tribal areas they say one thing while in non-tribal areas they say the opposite. We shall have to bring this out; this double standard face of the Congress to the common man. We can not sacrifice the cause of one community to favour another and by this we can not maintain the peace and development of the state,” said Deb Barma.

The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 (CEI Act, 2006) was notified on January 4, 2007. Section 3 of the CEI Act, 2006 provides for reservation of seats in Central Educational Institutions, according to which, 15 per cent of seats are reserved for the SC, 7.5 per cent for the ST and 27 per cent for the OBC.

Section 4 (a) of the CEI Act, 2006 provides that the provisions of Section 3 of the Act shall not apply to a Central Educational Institution established in the tribal areas referred to in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

However, the Government of Tripura has sent proposals in different letters to the Government of India to implement Tripura State Reservation Policy i.e. 31% for ST and 17% for SC, leaving no room for OBC reservation stating that NIT Agartala is in ADC area.

The National Institute of Technology located at Jirania in the Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), was unable to extend the benefit of reservation to students belonging to OBC category in view of the non-applicability of the CEI Act, under Section 4 (a).

Several writ petitions were filed in Guwahati High Court, Agartala and High Court, New Delhi challenging the applicability of reservation of the SCs and STs in NIT, Agartala while not extending the benefit of reservation to OBCs.

There was a popular demand from political parties and public representatives that the benefits of reservation for OBC should be extended to NIT Agartala in view of the substantial population of OBCs in the state.

A notification was issued with the approval of the President under Paragraph 12A(c) of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India on 13.7.2009 to the effect that provisions of Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act shall apply to Jirania in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council in respect to Central Educational Institutions situated therein namely NIT, Agartala subject to modifications of Section 3, 4 and 6 of the CEI Act, 2006.

It benefits Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other socially and educationally backward classes of students.

In the meantime, opposition leader of Congress Ratan Lal Nath, claiming that the Center’s move is a historical decision said, “The CPM which does not have any reservation for the huge OBC community of the state is politicizing the matter. The center’s decision shall help in the development of all sections of people of the state.”

Speaking in the Opposition Leader’s line, the Director of  NIT Agartala Professor Probir Kumar Bose said, “The newly adopted Central Reservation Policy shall help in fulfilling the huge number of vacant seats of the institute as from now on there shall be reservation for OBS’s and Tripura has around 42 percent OBC population.”

Pinaki Das