Defence personnel up in arms over kids’ quota cut

  • | Friday | 7th July, 2017

"The government should tell us if students admitted under defence quota have not performed well enough to justify the privilege. Nagpur: Defence personnel are crying foul over the Maharashtra government's decision to cap the quota for their children at five seats per institute in different full-time professional technical undergraduate courses. In DEF1, children of ex-service personnel, who are domiciled in Maharashtra state are included. When asked why the quota was cut, Oak referred the query to principal secretary Higher and Technical Education Department Sitaram Kunte.Kunte didn't answer to TOI's calls. By saying it was a government decision, they are trying to pass the buck on the minister," they said.According to the state common entrance test cell, the defence quota is classified as DEF1, DEF2 and DEF3.

Nagpur: Defence personnel are crying foul over the Maharashtra government's decision to cap the quota for their children at five seats per institute in different full-time professional technical undergraduate courses. Though the government had notified the condition on 5% quota back in 2015, it was not opposed then.Earlier, as per the government rules of 2007, the reservation for children of war widows, serving and retired ex-servicemen was 5% of the total intake capacity of an institute.The personnel say the decision deprives their children of studying at premier institutes like College of Engineering and the percentage, too, is in decimals at many of these colleges, where intake ranges from 400 to 700.In 2015, the government put a cap that only 5%, not exceeding 5 seats, would be allotted under this quota.The defence personnel are now demanding that the original rule of 5% be restored, so that more seats are made available for their children at reputed institutes.The Maharashtra government is yet to come up with any plausible reason for taking the step, they say. "The government should tell us if students admitted under defence quota have not performed well enough to justify the privilege. Many low ranking servicemen may have silently accepted it but someone has to raise the issue," one of the parents said.The admissions to courses, including first year and second year BE/BTech, first and second year BPharma, first year Diploma in Pharmacy, first year BArch and Bachelor of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, are conducted by the directorate of technical education (DTE).Director, DTE, Mumbai, Chandrashekhar Oak said it is the decision of the state government through its notification of 2015. When asked why the quota was cut, Oak referred the query to principal secretary Higher and Technical Education Department Sitaram Kunte.Kunte didn't answer to TOI's calls. The aggrieved parents slammed the officials for stating that it was a government decision. "There are IAS officers who took this decision. By saying it was a government decision, they are trying to pass the buck on the minister," they said.According to the state common entrance test cell, the defence quota is classified as DEF1, DEF2 and DEF3. In DEF1, children of ex-service personnel, who are domiciled in Maharashtra state are included. DEF2 has children of active personnel, who are domiciled in Maharashtra while DEF 3 covers children of active service personnel, who are transferred to Maharashtra but not domiciled here.Besides this, they have also demanded that an additional 5% seats be included in the quota as it amounts to only three more seats if the intake is 60.They said if quick decision is taken, it may help a lot of kids of martyrs, retired and serving defence personnel as Centralized Admission Round II is already underway for engineering admissions.

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