INCLUSION OF CASTES IN SC & OBC CATEGORIES(Monday, November 29, 2010)

Bhujbal demands job reservation for OBC’s

Pune, Nov 28: Maharashtra Tourism Minister and a firebrand OBC leader Chaggan Bhujbal today demanded that job reservation should be given to the people of Other Backward Classes as early as possible.

He was addressing the maiden OBC meeting, organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad, at the B J Medical College ground here, where lakhs of people from nearby districts like Beed, Nasik and Pune attended.

Mr Bhujbal said, ''The OBCs are in need of job reservation and we shall put a demand for this before the government, so that it can give reservation for the overall development of the people belonging to OBCs.

Earlier in the day, state Governer K Sankaranaryan unveiled the statue of Savitribai Phule at the Mahatma Phule Wada, before announcing the inauguration of Akhil Bharatiya Mahatma Phule Samata meeting.

Incidentally, the chief guests -- Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Union Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar -- could not grace the programme due to their tight schedule, said the organisers.

The programme was arranged to show Mr Bhujbal's popularity among the OBC people, they added.

--UNI

OBC candidates can seek admission under general category: HC, New Delhi.

New Delhi, November 29, 2010: In a landmark ruling benefiting the OBC category, the Delhi High Court has said quota candidates appearing in a competitive exam for professional courses are eligible to seek admission under the general category if he/she qualifies on merit, as “efficiency was paramount” A student may appear in the preliminary examination as an OBC candidate. If he qualifies under the OBC category, he may put forth his claim. However, if he secures more marks than the general candidates, he would be justified to seek admission under general category,” the court ruled.

Chief justice Dipak Misra and justice Manmohan said this while directing the CBSE and the Directorate General of Health Services to admit OBC candidate Tejpal Yadav to a medical course under general category from the next academic year. Yadav won the seat after a seven-year legal battle as he had qualified in the JEE in 2003. He moved a two-judge bench against a single-judge order, saying that he could apply only under OBC quota.

“Single judge’s interpretation defeats the very objective of the reservation policy,” the bench said. Yadav secured 49.2% marks in prelims of the All India Pre-Medical. In the mains, he scored 72.3% and got a rank of 2,965 in the general category and 1,179 in OBC category.

During counselling, he was told seats under OBC had already been filled up. Seats were available under general category but his admission letter specified that he was eligible to seek admission only under the OBC quota.

RK Saini, Yadav's lawyer, argued that since he secured 72.3% marks in mains, he qualified on the basis of merit as well.

‘It is a blow to OBC interests'

Bidar: A recent Ordinance of the State Government amends the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act and caps the reservation to various deprived communities at 50 per cent. This means that half the seats are available to general merit candidates. This, according to the Ordinance, will be achieved by keeping the reservation for SC/STs intact and reducing the number of seats reserved for OBCs.

Many backward class leaders have opposed this move as they say it will affect the balance of political power in the villages.

This will impact the political system at the grassroots levels. The order will reduce the total number of OBC seats in zilla panchayats to 223 from 334. This is an average reduction of 33 per cent. The new seat matrix has been published on the State Election Commission's website www.karsec.gov.in.

The worst affected district is Raichur where the reduction will be 84 per cent. The zilla panchayat in this district has 35 seats. The OBC seats there would be reduced to 2 from 12.

In Chitradurga, the reduction in seats would be to 3 from 11 (75 per cent). In Bidar, to 3 from 10 (73 p.c.), Bellary, 3 from 10 (70 p.c.), Kolar, 7 from 18 (62 p.c.), Chamarajanagar, 3 from 7 (58 p.c.), Mysore 7 from 15 (54 p.c.), Davangere 5 from 11 (55 p.c.), Bangalore Urban 5 from 9 (55 p.c.). Districts where there will be no change are Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Mandya, Dharwad and Uttara Kannada.

Taluk panchayats will also witness significant changes. As many as nine taluk panchayats will not have any seats reserved for OBC or minority community members.

“It is fatal to the welfare of the backward classes. It destroys the concept of proportional representation to these sections. It is unconstitutional and should be withdrawn,” says former chairman of the backward classes commission Ravivarma Kumar.

According to him, the 50 per cent cap on reservation fixed by the Supreme Court was only for education and employment and not political reservation.

“Reducing the quantum of reservation for backward classes amounts to supporting the politically overrepresented castes. Over the years, Lingayats and Vokkaligas, who together form about 25 per cent of the State's population, have been winning over 50 per cent seats in the State Assembly. If these seats are reserved, OBCs and minorities will be kept out of the local self-government system for ever,” says Congress MLC Khaji Arshed Ali. He and some other Congress leaders are planning to challenge the Government Order in the High Court.

Janata Dal (S) leader and former Law Minister M.C. Nanaiah has questioned the wisdom of the Government in going in for an Ordinance to make such an important change in the reservation policy.

Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Jagadish Shettar ruled out withdrawing the Ordinance or the order. He said that the matrix was fixed according to the Supreme Court order in the Mandal case and was legal and valid.

Calcutta High Court asks govt to file affidavit on OBC reservation

Kolkata, Nov 26: A suit challenging the West Bengal government's decision to reserve ten per cent for the most backward classes was admitted at Calcutta High Court today. The court asked the authorities to explain its stand on the issue through an affidavit in four weeks.

The state government had announced to include 52 Muslim and four Hindu communities among the most backward classes in the last Assembly session.The suit was filed by Confederation of OBC, SC, ST and Minorities of West Bengal president Nilmadhab Karmakar.

Moving the petition before the bench of Chief Justice Joy Narayan Patel and Justice Asim Roy, counsel for the petitioner, Kartik Kapas told the court that the government's decision to create '' the most backward classes'' among the OBC as recommended by Mandal Commission in 1979 was irrational.

Kapas contended before the bench that the government had set up State Backward Class Commission in 1993 and included 63 castes in OBC between 1993 and 2010.

The state government reserved only seven per cent for the OBC in higher education and service against Mandal Commission's recommendation of 27 per cent.

''We wonder why the state created the most backward class and announced ten per cent reservation for the category,'' he argued before the court.

Counsel Pratik Dhar appeared for the government.

The matter will again come up for hearing after four weeks.