posted April 11, 2008 11:14 AM              

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Supreme Court clears OBC 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 KG Balakrishnan upheld the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, paving 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, CK Thakker, RV 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 Scheduled 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 educational 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.

There were four judgments delivered by the five judges. While justices Pasayat and Thakker delivered a common judgment, Justice Raveendran chose to write a separate but brief judgment despite agreeing with the CJI’s detailed judgment.

The fourth judgment was that of Justice Bhandari, who declared the 93rd Constitutional Amendment as unconstitutional. He said that extending OBC quota to private institutions violated the basic structure of the Constitution as it stripped citizens of their fundamental right to carry on an occupation — running an educational institution in this case. The other judges left the question open, as there was no challenge to it from any private unaided educational institution.

The CJI emphasised: “Reservation is one of the many tools that are used to preserve and promote the essence of equality so that disadvantaged groups can be brought to the forefront of civil life.”

On the issue of determination of backward class, the CJI said it cannot be exclusively based on caste. Poverty, social backwardness, economic

backwardness, are all criteria for determination of backwardness. Justices Pasayat and Thakker said it could be done by excluding the creamy layer for which necessary data must be obtained by the Centre and state governments.

posted April 11, 2008 08:54 PM            

What is Other Backward Castes (OBCs). ?

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What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~

posted April 11, 2008 11:52 PM            

I think only merit/aptitude must be the factor when students compete for seats of top institutes such as those especially science institutes.

For love of science, you can't let incompetent people become scientists

Indian government is ridiculous. They must reconsider the decision.

If they want to uplift the OBC's. start with administrative jobs in government for these people, admin positions in science institutes, school teachers, municipal.

posted April 12, 2008 02:13 AM              

what i wanted to point was, caste system is being systematically eradicated by the govt and this something thats in the core of the consttution .

Lower and Backward castes are being given extra benafits ( with reservation in educational institutes and govt jobs , there is infact a proposal for resesvation in private sector jobs too )
and mind you , there are no such provisions for upper caste people like me .
(so in essence , a person with the same score card as me will be preffered for admission in IIT/IIM's if he is a lower caste , got it . )

and these provision were first made in 1947 when the country first became independent .
and from time to time the reseravtion have been increasing .

Result of all this , we already have had Low caste man as our President (we have had a Muslim president too ) . Does that point to something ?
so Introspect ......... rather than finding faullts with others .

posted April 12, 2008 05:28 AM              

"This is confusing cancerrg. Is India still dividing people into "castes" and "tribes" for purposes of education, permissible occupations, employment opportunities etc?"

this gives u away. u didnt do any research on ur thread or try to understand the caste issue. u just posted googled articles and shamed every indian for being barbaric.

posted April 12, 2008 11:27 AM              

this gives u away. u didnt do any research on ur thread or try to understand the caste issue. u just posted googled articles and shamed every indian for being barbaric.
:::

haaan... you have a point here ?
how didn't he know of the caste and tribes when he is the one who started the thread regarding it .

posted April 12, 2008 11:46 AM            

So, India is moving from one kind of institutionalized discrimination to another kind of institutionalized discrimination. A quota system.

We have a quota system too in the United States which permits, no not permits, wrong word; it mandates discrimination against men and Caucasians in government hiring and admittance to universities. Best possible combination to get hired or admitted is to be a minority woman. Worst combination is to be a Caucasian man.

Now VDI if you don't knock off the crap, I'll really take a good hard look at India and I don't think I'll have a bit of trouble finding lots of problems there. You've been quite free with your criticism of the United States but that's a two way road you're on.