Delhi police Wednesday lobbed tear gas shells and used water canons to disperse hundreds of students of five premier medical colleges who staged a demonstration against the government's move to provide reservation in elite educational institutions.

The police action came when an estimated 400 agitators moved from the scheduled venue of protest at Jantar Mantar triggering a scuffle between the two sides.

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Accusing the political parties of resorting to vote-bank politics while moving such a proposal, the protestors also threatened to go on strike if their demand to rollback the 27 per cent reservation for the OBCs was not met.

The students, under the banner of "Youth for Equality", blocked the roads creating traffic snarls in and around busy Connaught Place area.

"The politicians are catering to their vote banks. Not one party opposed the bill in Parliament. They are playing divide and rule," Supriya Gupta, president, Lady Hardigne College students' body, said.

"The quota will severely compromise the kind of health professionals this country gets. It is not machines or instruments but human life that is at stake," she said adding that colleagues from the OBC category are "financially, intellectually and economically equal."

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Meanwhile, retired district and session judge O P Sharma was Wednesday appointed to conduct a probe into the incidents of vandalism and damage to the university property by the students in hostels.

A high-level meeting was held under the chairmanship of Vice Chancellor L R Verma to review the situation. To curb the recurrence of such incidence in hostels and campuses and to restore normalcy it was also decided to initiate strict disciplinary action against the students involved in the vandalism.

The enquiry officer would also suggest preventive measures so that such incidence do not recur in future, the spokesman of the university said.

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