PUDUCHERRY: Chief Minister N Rangasamy called on Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar here on Sunday and submitted a memorandum to him seeking a 25 per cent quota of seats in all the courses available in the Central University in Puducherry for the natives of the Union Territory.Rangasamy was accompanied by Assembly Speaker R Selvam during his meeting with the Vice President.The Vice President is the Chancellor of Pondicherry Central University under the provisions of the Pondicherry Central University Act 1985.Rangasamy made a strong case for reservation of 25 per cent of the seats available in all the courses offered by the university for natives of Puducherry.Dhankhar is on a three-day visit to Puducherry from Sunday to participate in functions in JIPMER on Monday and at the Central University on June 17.The memorandum copy was released to the mediapersons by the office of the Chief Minister.The CM said in his memorandum that the territorial government, the people of the Union Territory and the student community here have been requesting the Pondicherry Central University since long for reservation of 25 per cent of the seats in all courses offered by the institution for the natives of the Union Territory.When the demand was raised in 1990, the then Vice Chancellor of the University A Gnanam extended reservation of 25 per cent of seats after due consideration with the University’s Academic Council and the Executive committee extended the reservation in the courses available in the university in 1997.A reservation of 25 per cent of seats was provided for eight courses in the beginning, which increased subsequently to 18 courses.The chief minister pointed out that, however, when more and more professional, prestigious and job oriented innovative courses were started in the university, the reservation was not extended.“This denial sowed the seeds of discontent in the minds of the youth of the Union Territory of Puducherry,” the memorandum said.It was also pointed out that the Puducherry government adopted a resolution in the Assembly justifying the quest for providing reservation of 25 per cent of seats in all the 64 courses in the university.The CM pointed out in his memorandum that a three-member committee, after detailed deliberations, recommended a uniform reservation of 25 per cent reservation in all courses. This recommendation was accepted and approved by the Academic council and ratified by the Executive committee in 2013-2014.The object of the Pondicherry University Act 1985 states that the university was established “to fulfil the regional aspirations of the people of the Union Territory of Puducherry.” The import of the statement is that any potential avenue in the form of courses or training would be thrown open to the students of Puducherry automatically, the CM said.Reservations to the Puducherry students in the Centrally supported institutions is not a new phenomenon, he said.The National Institute of Technology in Karaikal has reserved 50 per cent of the seats for the Union Territories. Similarly, JIPMER, another prestigious medical institution in Puducherry, has been reserving 25 per cent of seats since its inception in1964.Rangasamy stated in his memorandum that the Central University here has extended the reservation to 18 of the 64 courses for natives of Puducherry. Having recognised the legitimacy in certain courses the denial of reservation in all the other courses is “rather perplexing”, he said.He requested the Vice President to take a compassionate view and take effective measures to reserve 25 per cent of seats in all courses offered now and in the forthcoming courses also in the university, as early as possible.
