Article 15(5) and the 27% OBC Quota: Two Decades Later, Students Still Not Fully Benefiting

Article 15(5) of the Indian Constitution, which provides a 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in higher education, completed 20 years on January 20, 2026. Introduced through the 93rd Constitutional Amendment in 2006, this provision was a historic step aimed at opening the doors of private higher education institutions to students from socially and educationally backward classes. Despite its promise, full implementation remains elusive, and many students are still unable to avail its benefits.

What is Article 15(5)?
The 93rd Amendment, enacted under the UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, empowered the state to make special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes, including OBCs, in private educational institutions. Under this provision, private colleges were mandated to reserve 27% of seats for OBCs, 15% for Scheduled Castes (SCs), and 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes (STs).

Initially, this allowed central institutions like IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, and central universities to implement OBC reservation. However, medical students could only start benefiting from the 27% OBC quota in NEET UG-PG from 2021 onward.

Challenges in Private Institutions
While reservation benefits have been implemented in central universities and public institutions, India’s rapidly growing private education sector—including engineering, management, and medical colleges—has largely not applied Article 15(5). Even after the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of quotas in public institutions in 2014, a comprehensive legal framework for private colleges is still lacking.

Why Full Implementation Has Not Happened
Article 15(5) allows the government to frame laws, but the quota cannot be applied until Parliament or state legislatures pass enabling legislation. As of 2026, no central law mandates complete implementation of 27% OBC reservation across all private institutions. The 2006 Act applies only to central institutions, though some states such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have enacted their own laws to enforce the quota.

Impact on Entrance Exams
The competition for admission to engineering, medical, and management courses remains extremely tough, with lakhs of students appearing for national-level exams like IIT-JEE and NEET to secure seats in government colleges that charge significantly lower fees. Full implementation of Article 15(5) in private institutions could ease this pressure by providing reserved seats and reducing the intensity of competition in public institutions.

Two decades on, while Article 15(5) has transformed access to education in principle, its incomplete application continues to limit opportunities for OBC students across India.