The Centre has adopted a hands-off approach to implementing reservation in admission of students from deprived sections in private higher educational institutions (HEIs), an affirmative measure for which enabling provision has been made in the Constitution.

In reply to a question by Samajwadi Party’s Rajya Sabha member Javed Ali Khan, minister of state for education Sukanta Majumdar on Wednesday said it was up to the state governments to implement reservation for SCs, STs, OBCs and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in admissions to unaided institutions.

“Education is a subject in the concurrent list of the Indian Constitution. State (Public/Private) Universities are established under Acts passed by the relevant state legislatures and are governed as per the Acts, statutes, ordinances, rules, and regulations approved by the respective state governments. It is thus the responsibility of the state governments to make suitable legislative provisions for providing reservation in the HEIs established by them,” the minister said in a written reply.

Khan wanted to know whether the Centre would bring legislation to provide reservations to SC, ST, OBC and EWS categories in private HEIs.

“Some states have enacted Acts for providing reservation in admissions in the state private universities e.g. Maharashtra Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Act, 2023; Karnataka Act No. 15 of 2023; the Uttar Pradesh Private Universities Act, 2019; the Bihar Private Universities Act, 2013; the Apex Professional University (Amendment) Act, 2022 of Arunachal Pradesh,” Majumdar said.

Article 15(6) of the Constitution provides for a 15 per cent quota for SCs, 7.5 per cent for STs, 27 per cent for OBCs and 10 per cent for EWS students for admission in HEIs, including private institutions. However, this is an enabling provision that can be enforced by enacting a law. The provision was created in 2019 when the NDA government brought a constitutional amendment to provide 10 per cent reservation for the EWS category in education and government jobs.

Majumdar cited the All India Survey on Higher Education to state that the share of SCs, STs and OBCs had increased in the total enrolment of students in HEIs between 2014-15 and 2022-23.

G. Karunanidhy, secretary of the All India OBC Employees’ Federation, said the Centre should bring a bill to provide quota in private institutions instead of leaving it to the states. “The Union government has created the provision in the Constitution for reservation in private institutions. But it is passing the responsibility to state governments because many institutions are owned by corporates and the government does not want to harm their interest,” Karunanidhy said.

The standing committee on education, comprising MPs from all political parties, has recently supported the enforcement of reservations in private institutions. The UPA government, which created provision 15(5) in the Constitution for reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs in HEIs, including private institutions, only implemented the reservation in central educational institutions. It did not bring the bill for reservation in private HEIs in view of a pending case in the Supreme Court.