Seven IITs on Wednesday decided to implement 27 per cent OBC quota in phases over three years, with the institutions reserving nine per cent seats for eligible candidates in the coming academic year.

This was decided at a meeting of the directors of the IITs, which came in the wake of Supreme Court clearing the path for reserving 27 per cent seats for OBCs last week.

While nine per cent of seats will be reserved for OBC candidates this year, a similar percentage of seats will be earmarked for them in second and third years.

The IITs have also decided to increase the number of seats by 13 per cent in the next academic year to accommodate the OBC candidates.

There are at present about 4,000 seats in the seven IITs at Kharagpur, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kanpur, Guwahati and Roorkee.