IIT Bombay denies 80 PhD seats to SC, ST, OBC, grants 95 more seats for general: APPSC finds

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay denied 80 seats to SC, ST, OBC students and admitted 95 more general category students in this year's PhD admission 2023, as per the data obtained from the Right to Information (RTI) application by Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC).

The study circle said that the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) has once again violated reservation norms in PhD admissions this year despite claiming that they are implementing it. In December last year, the APPSC said that five departments in IIT Bombay have not admitted a single ST candidate in the last 8 years.

As per the new RTI reply, 20 departments have not admitted any ST students, 11 departments did not grant admission to any SC student and 5 departments have no OBC student this year.

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Noting that the Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA) has not given admission to ST students in the last 9 years, the APPSC asked, ‘Is this how” the IIT Bombay is implementing the new anti-discrimination guidelines.

On July 29, the institute issued a anti-discrimination guidelines after the IITB student Darshan Solanki allegedly committed suicide over caste-discrimination.

“Our RTI data shows that there were more than enough students who applied from each category who cleared the written test and attended the interview. Still the savarna dominated faculties denied them their rightful seats. We need to hold these institutes accountable,” the study circle said.

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IITB PhD admission 2023

Only 9% of SC seats and 3% of the ST seats were filled this year despite having a good representation from the unreserved categories. Here is the number of students admitted in each category this year for pursuing PhD in IIT Bombay, as per the RTI reply shared by the APPSC.

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