New Delhi, July 25 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Friday directed a group of colleges of Delhi University (DU), which claim to be run by minority institutions, to reserve seats for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the current academic year. The colleges run by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) had approached the court, seeking exemption from the stipulated 27 percent reservation for OBCs in institutions of higher learning.

Justice Vipin Sanghi, after going through the bye-laws of the institutions, found that though they are run by a religious group, they do not provide any reservation to students of the Sikh community - an essential clause for running minority institutions.

The court said that these colleges would have to provide reservation until they are declared minority institutions.

The colleges run by the DSGMC, a body constituted under the Delhi Sikh Gurdwaras Act, contended that the reservation policy was not applicable to their institutions in view of a recent Supreme Court judgement.

The apex court had held that the Minority Educational institutions (MEI), whether they were aided or unaided, were exempted from OBC reservation, the colleges said in their petition.

The Supreme Court had in April upheld the central government’s decision of reserving 27 per cent quota for OBCs in institutions of higher education.