A panel has recommended reservation for girl students in Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) to address the issue of slump in the number of female students entering the prestigious institutes.

The committee is learnt to have suggested creating up to 20 per cent supernumerary seats for girls out of the total number of seats.

The recommendation of the committee will be taken up in the meeting of the joint admission board (JAB) for a final decision, which will decide whether the reservation will come into effect from this year or from 2018.

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Concerned by the slump in number of girl students entering IITs, the JAB has set up a sub-committee under the chairmanship of professor Timothy Gonsalves to find ways to rectify the situation in the institutes.

The number of seats for male candidates will not be affected and this will help IITs achieve the 1 lakh target by 2020. Also, only candidates who have already qualified in JEE-Advanced will be considered.

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