Agencies
New Delhi, Apr 10:
In a major boost to reservation, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Constitution amendment law providing for 27 per cent quota for OBCs in IITs, IIMs and other Central educational institutions but excluded the creamy layer from the benefit.
A five-judge Constitution bench by a unanimous verdict cleared the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 providing for the quota. The bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan excluded the creamy layer among the OBCs from the quota benefit. The court held that the Act does not violate the basic structure of the Constitution.
The parameter applied for identifying the creamy layer among the OBCs for jobs as per the office memorandum of September 8, 1993, would be applicable for identifying the socially and educationally backward classes. The court also upheld that the delegation of power to the Centre to determine OBCs would be valid.
The verdict came on a bunch of petitions by anti-quota activists challenging the Act. They vehemently opposed government's move saying caste cannot be the starting point for identifying backward classes. The inclusion of creamy layer in the reservation policy was also questioned by the anti-quota petitioners.
With this judgement, the interim order of March 29, 2007 staying the implementation of the Act has been lifted. In effect, the reservation policy can be put in place for the 2008-09 academic session. The Court held that the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act, under which the Government came out with the law providing 27 per cent quota in Centrally-aided institutions, was not violative of the basic structure of the Constitution.
All the judges favoured periodic revision on the implementation of the 27 per cent quota. The Court ruled that the delegation of power to the Centre to determine OBCs was valid.
IIMs may defer admission list
The final list of admissions to the six prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIM), which was to have been released on Friday, will be delayed by at least one week following Thursday's Supreme Court's verdict on OBC quota verdict in higher education. IIM-A director Sameer Barua said in Ahmedabad "We were to release the final list of candidates tomorrow. But after the Supreme Court's order on OBC reservations, all the IIMs will have consultation and might defer the release of list by a week," The six IIMs were to release the list of admission on the same date, he said. Regarding the implementation of court's order, Barua said "We would follow whatever the law of the land says" in remarks suggesting the IIMs would adhere to the government's policy.
Parties hail judgement
Raising above the party lines, all the major parties have hailed the Supreme Court's clearance to 27 per cent quota for the OBCs in institutions of higher education and noted that the protests and 'motivated allegations' on the issue of reservation have now been silenced. "It's a landmark judgment, very significant as it upholds the most remarkable, laudable initiative of the Government, of the Congress party," AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said. The BJP has also reacted positively to the SC judgement.
Joining other parties, the CPI(M) and the Forward Block also welcomed the judgement and asked the Government to take immediate steps to implement the quota from the coming academic year.
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