“If the minimum eligibility condition for admission to a course is 50 % for general candidates, that for OBC candidates will be 45 % ( 50 % less 10 % of 50 %),” the notification states, echoing the court ruling.

“Only if OBC candidates possessing the minimum eligibility marks are not available in the reserved category can the vacant seats be converted into general category seats in accordance with the admission schedule notified by the university,” the new guidelines said.

Conversion of reserved seats will be allowed only if OBC candidates who meet the minimum eligibility criteria for admission to a course are unavailable, the university has said. The notification dated April 11 essentially means that colleges will have to bring their ‘cutoffs’ for OBC seats down to the relaxed minimum eligibility criteria before they can seek conversion of OBC seats to general, university officials said.

The notification comes in response to a Supreme Court ruling in August 2011 upholding 10 % relaxation in minimum eligibility criteria (as opposed to cutoffs) for admission to seats reserved for OBC students in central universities.

For most under-graduate courses in the University the minimum eligibility criteria is 45 or 50 %. Non-creamy layer candidates who figure in the Central government list of OBCs will get a relaxation equal to 10 % of the minimum eligibility for general category candidates.

Under-graduate OBC admissions at Delhi University last year had been fraught with confusion after colleges had interpreted relaxation in minimum eligibility criteria as a relaxation — different in different colleges and courses — of up to ten points in cutoff percentages, leading to many OBC seats lying vacant even after classes began due to unavailability of OBC candidates who could meet the high cutoffs.

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