New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) Delhi High Court Tuesday deferred hearing a petition by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) alumni association to restrain the central government from providing quota for Other Backward Classes students in higher educational institutions. The court will hear the petition Wednesday, as senior lawyer Harish Salve, representing the petitioner, was not available for arguments.

Appearing before a division bench headed by Justice T.S. Thakur, counsel for the central government said that after the apex court judgement on the OBC reservation “there is no doubt left”.

Contending that the petition was no longer maintainable, the counsel argued that the plea by the petitioner that the benefits of reservation cannot be provided to a candidate after graduation was wrong.

The association, in its petition, has contended that the government had misinterpreted the Supreme Court judgement and that the apex court, while upholding the OBC reservation law, had said that it would not be applicable for graduates.

The petition filed by Pan-IIM Alumni Association pleaded that an April 20 memorandum by which the government intended to implement OBC reservation in higher educational institutions be stayed.