Srinagar (NVI): A day ahead of the first anniversary of Article 370 rollback, the Jammu and Kashmir administration today announced that students from Ladakh UT will have four per cent reservation on seats in professional institutions in J&K for the academic year 2020-21.
The decision in this regard was announced in a meeting chaired by the J&K Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam here. As per the decision, 24 seats from engineering colleges and 35 seats from medical colleges will be reserved for students from Ladakh.
An official spokesman said that the meeting was informed that the reservation in professional institutions is governed in terms of Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act and Rules which have been amended post reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Act and Rules do not apply to UT of Ladakh. Keeping in view the non-availability of professional institutions in the Union Territory of Ladakh and recommendations of the Advisory Committee constituted by the Government of India, a decision was taken earlier to reserve 4 per cent seats in both engineering as well as medical colleges of Jammu and Kashmir for students from UT of Ladakh,” the official spokesman said.
“24 seats from engineering colleges and 35 seats from medical colleges will be deducted from total number of available seats and the reservation for the residents of J&K will be calculated on remaining seats as per the provisions of JK Reservation Act and Rules,” he added. This was announced by the Chief Secretary, as per the spokesman.
He further stated that the Chief Secretary directed the General Administration Department to inform the Ladakh Administration accordingly.
Regarding the seats reserved for Ladakh students, Chief Secretary directed the Jammu and Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE) to take up the matter with Ladakh Administration in terms of admission policy and reservation policy to be adopted for selecting their candidates, the official spokesman said.
The Administrative Secretaries of the Social Welfare Department and Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs Department, among others participated in the meeting.
To recall, following the abolition of Article 370 on August 5 last year, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the erstwhile State was bifurcated into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
-ARK
