Chandigarh, May 19 -- One of North India's oldest fine arts institutions has been sidestepping a reservation mandate for over two decades. Government College of Art (GCA), sector 10, has allegedly never implemented the UT pool quota for admissions to its master of fine arts (MFA) programme, despite the framework being a binding policy for all institutions under the UT.

The UT pool mandates that 60% of seats in any UT institution must be filled by students who completed their qualifying examination from a school or college recognised by and situated in the Chandigarh administration-essentially, giving local students priority access to higher education in their own city.

The remaining 40% are open to candidates from anywhere in the countr...