New Delhi, Aug 11 - The Supreme Court Tuesday suspended an Allahabad High Court order that restrained the Uttar Pradesh government from implementing 50 percent reservations in private engineering colleges.

A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B.S. Chauhan suspended the high court order on an appeal of the state government that the high court had forbidden it from securing reserved seats for backward and Dalit students in private engineering colleges though the colleges had no objection to it.

Appearing for the state government, senior counsel P.P. Rao argued that the Aug 7 order of the Lucknow bench of the high court had abruptly halted the admission process in the state's engineering colleges with over 70 percent of the pre-admission counseling already complete.

Rao pointed out that the high court stayed the government order on a public interest lawsuit without hearing either the colleges or the students aggrieved by the state government's reservation policy in the private engineering colleges affiliated to the Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU).