Criticism forces Calicut varsity to put on hold move to reduce ST quota

University likely to continue existing 7.5% reservation for students from community

Widespread protests and a court case are reported to have led the University of Calicut to put on hold its move to reduce the Scheduled Tribes’ (ST) quota for admission to PhD courses. According to sources, the university Syndicate on Tuesday evening decided to continue the existing 7.5% reservation for students from the ST community. A notification issued earlier reducing it to 5% would be cancelled and the admission would be conducted in accordance with the 2020 notification. A sub-committee involving K.D. Bahuleyan, Shamsad Hussain, M. Manoharan, N.V. Abdurahman, and Ugin Morely had been told to study the issue. A final decision would depend on the panel’s report. It was earlier reported that the State government had sought a clarification from the authorities on this. Dalit organisations too had come out against the move.