A parliamentary panel has asked the government to bring legislation to provide reservation to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Economically Weaker Sections in private higher educational institutions.
The parliamentary standing committee on education, headed by Congress's Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh, has also recommended the provision of government funds to private institutions to create additional infrastructure for increasing seats to fulfil the constitutional mandate of reservation of 15 per cent for SCs, 7.5 per cent for STs, 27 per cent for OBCs and 10 per cent for EWS members in admission.
"Private educational institutions are currently not legally obliged to implement reservation policies since there is no statute mandating them to do so. The committee, therefore, recommends that Article 15(5) of the Constitution be implemented in full across the country through legislation by Parliament," the committee said in its report on the provision for implementation of reservation in private educational institutions.
The committee said private higher educational institutes charged hefty fees that marginalised sections struggle to pay.
To help poor students study in private institutes under quota, the committee proposed the reimbursement of 25 per cent of fees by the government.
The committee found that SCs, STs and OBCs in reputed private institutions such as BITS Pilani, OP Jindal Global University and Shiv Nadar University were much less than their population share or the quota stipulations.