The first indication that the IIMs were restless to start the admission process came from IIM-Ahmedabad, which said it would go ahead with admissions for the 2007 batch without providing for 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in the wake of the Supreme Court’s order.

“That question can be answered by the order of the Supreme Court,” IIM-A director Bakul Dholakia said when asked if it was safe to presume at this stage that the OBC quota would not be there in the current academic session.

Sources in the HRD Ministry said a fresh directive to IIMs to resume the stalled admission process would be issued shortly. Last week, the Ministry had directed the IIMs to keep admissions on hold till the Supreme Court took a decision on its application to vacate the stay on quota in Central educational institutions.

Dholakia’s remarks came after the Supreme Court rejected the Centre’s plea for vacation of the stay on OBC quota while agreeing to examine the request for referring the issue to a Constitution Bench.

“We understand that the court has clearly said that 27 per cent reservation for OBCs could not be made applicable for the year 2007-08,” he said. “Should that be the case, we would expect the Government to consider this aspect and take a decision pretty soon,” he added.

Asked whether the academic schedule of IIMs for this year would be disturbed in any manner, Dholakia said, “At this point of time, there is no such indication. If there is a communication by the Government in one or two days, we will adjust the schedule accordingly.”

He said earlier a three-week period was given to accept the offer letter. This might be reduced to about two weeks. “Rest of the process will remain the same,” he said, adding, “As on date, everything is on schedule. It has only meant delay of about 10 days in announcing admissions.”

Dholakia said he would be contacting the other IIM directors by Tuesday. Generally the IIMs have taken unanimous decisions all along and people have adjusted to ensure that unanimity continues.

“Last week there was lack of clarity. But now things are very clear and we expect the Human Resource Development Ministry to soon revise their orders of April 5 and April 19 (when the Ministry had asked the IIMs to hold their admission process till further orders),” Dholakia added.

Meanwhile, IIM, Bangalore, said it has decided to wait for further instructions from the HRD Ministry. Its spokesman said students had been informed that they would not be displaying the list of the selected candidates till further instructions from the Ministry.

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