OBC forum calls for reservation in judiciary

New Delhi: Congress MP Hanumanth Rao, who is also the convenor of the Parliamentary OBC forum of MPs, on Wednesday said the Government must immediately introduce quotas in the judiciary.
Speaking exclusively to CNN-IBN, Rao said, “OBCs should get proper representation in the judiciary. Our people should get into the mainstream. However, this is not about elections because we have been asking for this since 1950. This is not a new demand.”
But Rao refused to comment on whether a bias exits against OBC lawyers and leaders.
The recommendation by the OBC forum has already been made by the Nachiappan Committee set up by Parliament in August 2007.
The Committee had accused the judiciary of keeping out competent OBC candidates by manipulating the system.
The Parliamentary OBC forum, that has now revived that Nachiappan Committee report, has as many as 70 MPs as members.
The members of the forum will be meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on April 29 to present a formal memorandum on quota in the judiciary.
The OBC forum on Tuesday also unanimously rejected the concept of creamy layer as ruled by the Supreme Court.
This rejection of the creamy layer concept that the Government has accepted in the wake of the Court order was taken at a meeting of the forum in New Delhi.
Attended by four members of the Union Council of Ministers — Anbumani Ramadoss, R Velu, Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan and V Narayanasamy — the meeting drew participation from most political parties.
Government to implement quota this year
Ending a week-long uncertainty, the Government on Sunday directed all the Centrally-funded elite educational institutions, including IIMs and IITs, to implement the OBC reservation from this year.
The Human Resource Development Ministry issued the directive to the Central Educational Institutions (CIE) after the Supreme Court on April 10 upheld the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs excluding the creamy layer from its ambit.
The court ruled the 93rd Constitutional Amendment Act, which was the basis of the law providing 27 per cent reservation in aided institutions, didn’t violate the basic structure of the Constitution.
The 500-page verdict came on a petition by anti-quota activists challenging the Act. They had vehemently opposed the Government's move saying caste cannot be the starting point for identifying backward classes.
Bhupendra Chaubey / CNN-IBN
Published on Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 13:23, Updated at Wed, Apr 23, 2008 in Nation section
www.ibnlive.com/