Mayura Janwalkar.
Do the IIMs adequately fill up the disability quota for students?
No, thinks Rahul Girreddy, who took CAT this year and has filed a petition against the IIMs in the Bombay high court. The commerce graduate contends in his petition that the IIMs are not complying with the provisions of the Persons with Disabilities (PD) Act, 1995. “Though there are 90 to 100 seats reserved for DAs (differently-abled candidates), only approximately 55 candidates are short-listed collectively by the IIMs for the second phase of the selection process,” the petition states. Under the PD Act, 3% of seats in educational institutions have to be reserved for DA candidates. But the number of seats provided by the IIMs against the quota does not amount to 3%, the petition states.
It states that IIM-A stipulates that SC/ST/DA candidates should score at least 17% in each of the three sections of CAT. Accordingly, 396 DA candidates should have been eligible for interviews this year. But the IIMs put the cut-off for the three categories at 80 percentile — much above what the 17% per subject would yield — and called only 31 candidates for interviews. Girreddy contends that even if all the IIMs were to set their cut-off at say 60 percentile — like IIM-Indore — only 55 DA candidates would have been selected, leaving many seats vacant, which would then be filled up with candidates from the general category. Girreddy, who secured 46.20 percentile, was certain of getting an interview call.
But the high cut-off dashed his hopes. Terming the conditions laid down by the IIMs “illogical”, Girreddy states in his petition: “Though the IIMs do make a provision for 3% of their seats to be reserved for DAs, the modus operandi adopted by the IIMs defeats the provisions of the PD Act, frustrates the objective set out for the state in the constitution, and causes a colossal waste of public money.” Girreddy’s father GS Reddy says the case will be mentioned before a division bench of the court on Monday, and a date of hearing sought. If the court gives a judgment favourable to Girreddy, it will affect the percentile scores of all candidates.
DNA Bombay
