New Delhi, Aug. 17: Human resource development minister Arjun Singh is stepping up a drive to introduce a bill for a 27 per cent OBC quota in higher education in the monsoon session that ends next Friday.

The quota bill is likely to come up for consideration before the cabinet tomorrow.

Arjun today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to rally support for the bill, which triggered protests from a section of students and also from some of the minister’s own colleagues.

Manmohan, who is keen to ensure that meritorious students do not suffer in the wake of the new quota, has chosen to remain more or less silent in public and has tried to water down some of the stringent provisions like implementing the reservation at one go.

A group of ministers set up by the Prime Minister to probe the issue advised Manmohan to stagger the quota implementation. Manmohan also stressed that unaided deemed universities must be left out of the quota ambit.

As a consequence, the HRD ministry has drawn up two bills, one for unaided deemed universities and the other for aided institutions like the IITs, IIMs and central universities.

Two members of the National Knowledge Commission set up by the Prime Minister have quit the panel protesting the quota. Andre Beteille and Pratap Bhanu Mehta, former commission members, said they were in favour of affirmative action but not for a numerical quota.

The ministry is likely to put the bill for aided institutions for the consideration of the cabinet, which is divided on quotas. Manmohan, Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal and Ambika Soni are being seen as against it while Arjun, P. Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar, Anbumani Ramadoss are considered to be in favour of more quotas.

The UPA’s southern allies, the DMK and the PMK, have petitioned the Prime Minister to implement the quota at one go. Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, though a champion of OBCs — has said he is with the Prime Minister.

The HRD minister wants the cabinet to endorse the bill at tomorrow’s meeting so that he can push it through in the monsoon session.

The minister does not have much time. Any sign of dissent from the cabinet members will delay the introduction of the bill. The ministry also does not have much time to work out the nitty-gritty of implementing the quota, which comes into effect from the next academic year.

The Oversight Committee headed by Veerappa Moily has submitted an interim report which has underlined the extent of expansion the institutions will have to undertake in increasing seats, faculty and infrastructure.