Ending a week-long uncertainty, the government on Sunday directed all the centrally-funded elite educational institutions, including Indian Institutes of Management and Indian Institutes of Technology, to implement the Other Backward Classes reservation from this year.

The Human Resource Development Ministry issued the directive to the Central Educational Institutions, after the Supreme Court on April 10 upheld the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs, excluding the creamy layer from its ambit.

All CEIs, other than those exempted in the act, have to implement the 27 per quota for OBCs apart from 15 per cent for Scheduled Castes and 7.5 per cent for Scehduled Tribes from this academic session, the Ministry said in its office memorandum issued today evening.

After the apex court verdict, the IIMs have put on hold their admission process, seeking a communication from the Ministry in this regard. The IITs have already decided to implement the OBC quota in three years time, beginning in 2008-09, by reserving nine per cent every year.

"The policy of reservation for the OBCs under the Central Educational Institutions Act is to be implemented from the forthcoming academic session itself and this is applicable to all the CEIs, exceptions being only those institutions of excellence, research institutions of national and strategic importance specified in the Schedule to the CEI Act," the ministry made it clear.

A detailed programme of phasing of the expansion has already been worked out by CEIs and approved by the Empowered Committee for implementing recommendations of the Oversight Committee, it said, adding that in view of the stay orders of the Supreme Court, the academic session commencing from the calendar year 2008-09 would, for all practical purposes, be the first year of implementation.