Lucknow, July 23 - The Uttar Pradesh government Thursday instructed all privately-run engineering and management colleges to resume reservation of seats for students from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other backward communities.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the state technical education ministry late Wednesday night.

The reservation was suspended when some private college owners approached the Allahabad High Court May 2009 for a stay after initially agreeing to reservation in 2006.

The stay order resulted in delay in counselling for admissions to 97,536 seats in both state-run and private engineering and management colleges carried out through the State Entrance Examination (SEE) conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU).