Scheduled Castes clears Other Backward Classes quota law
Ending uncertainty over the controversial law providing for 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes in central educational institutions including IITs and IIMs, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld its validity but ruled that the "creamy layer" among the backwards would not get reservation.
A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan upheld the Central Educational lnstitutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, paying the way for its implementation in all central educational institutions.
The landmark verdict comes as a major victory for the UPA government, which had to face embarrassment after the court stayed the implementation of the OBC quota law last year.
The bench, also comprising justices Arijit Pasayat, C.K. Thakker, R.V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari, unanimously said the "creamy layer" must be excluded from the socially and educationally backward classes as per a 1993 government order The government order excludes wards of people holding constitutional posts and senior government officials from the quota ambit.
Justice Bhandari asked the government to exclude the children of former and present MPs and MLAs from the purview of OBC reservation. The judges, however, clarified that the "creamy layer" concept was not applicable to Scheduled Castes and Schedu1ed Tribes. There should be a periodic review after five years on continuing with the OBC quota, they added.
The bench also upheld the validity of the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act 2005 that enabled the government to enact laws providing for OBC reservation in central education- al institutions, saying it did not violate the Constitution's basic structure. It also rejected the petitioners' contention that not extending the OBC quota law to minority educational institutions was illegal.
The exclusion of minority educational institutions from the ambit of the law did not violate the Constitution as "they (minority institutions) are a separate class and their rights are protected by other constitutional provisions," the CJI said.
To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com
A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan upheld the Central Educational lnstitutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, paying the way for its implementation in all central educational institutions.
The landmark verdict comes as a major victory for the UPA government, which had to face embarrassment after the court stayed the implementation of the OBC quota law last year.
The bench, also comprising justices Arijit Pasayat, C.K. Thakker, R.V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari, unanimously said the "creamy layer" must be excluded from the socially and educationally backward classes as per a 1993 government order The government order excludes wards of people holding constitutional posts and senior government officials from the quota ambit.
Justice Bhandari asked the government to exclude the children of former and present MPs and MLAs from the purview of OBC reservation. The judges, however, clarified that the "creamy layer" concept was not applicable to Scheduled Castes and Schedu1ed Tribes. There should be a periodic review after five years on continuing with the OBC quota, they added.
The bench also upheld the validity of the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act 2005 that enabled the government to enact laws providing for OBC reservation in central education- al institutions, saying it did not violate the Constitution's basic structure. It also rejected the petitioners' contention that not extending the OBC quota law to minority educational institutions was illegal.
The exclusion of minority educational institutions from the ambit of the law did not violate the Constitution as "they (minority institutions) are a separate class and their rights are protected by other constitutional provisions," the CJI said.
To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com
Labels: 93rd Constitutional Amendment, central universties, cut-off marks, higher education, IIMs, IITs, K.G. Balakrishnan, minority institutions, OBC quota law, reservation, SCs, STs, students
posted by PressMart Team at
11:01 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home