New Delhi, June 1: The Supreme Court today said the government need not wait for its final judgment to goahead with reservations for Other Backward Classes but should keep in mind that the issue was before it.

The go-ahead nod came as another setback to the anti-reservation camp after the court’s earlier warning that protesters could be guilty of contempt unless they called off their strike.

The agitating students and doctors have been demanding that the government keep on hold the 27 pet cent reservation for OBCs till the apex court completes examining the entire quota policy.

On the brighter side for them, however, was the court’s clarification that forms of dissent other than street protests and strikes were still allowed.

While resentment still brewed on streets and campuses, AIIMS and the four other medical colleges in the capital slowly limped back to normal, with protesting resident doctors getting back to work. A protest march from Delhi University today was called off.

But students say this is not the end of their 20-day agitation. Their protest will continue, though the form might change.

Students from the capital’s medical colleges, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, IIT Kanpur, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University plan to wear black armbands to classes.

They have also decided to collect mobile phone numbers and email addresses of all their friends and relatives.

“We will then send SMSes and emails to all these people, asking for their support to our agitation,” said Monish, the Delhi University coordinator of Youth for Equality, the group that has been spearheading the anti-quota agitation.

“The Supreme Court has given us the leeway by its verbal assurance that we can create public and political opinion in our favour as long as we do not cause public inconvenience,” he added.