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| India-Pakistan |
| Why is no group ever excluded from affirmative action quota: Indian Supreme Court |
| 2007-09-25 |
| NEW DELHI: Does the inclusion of a larger number of castes in the backward class list by the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) indicate deterioration of their social status? Does a caste which gets designated as "backward" and becomes eligible for quota benefits ever sheds the tag? A seemingly skeptic Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan put these questions to the Centre. The barrage of questions came after the Centre had argued that caste should be the starting point for the identification of a "backward" class. Appearing for the Centre, solicitor-general G E Vahanvati said the NCBC followed a stringent procedure in dealing with claims by castes for inclusion in the backward class list. Seeking to rebut the argument of anti-quota groups that 27% reservation for OBCs in educational institutions was provided by the Centre without identifying the genuinely needy, Vahanvati said the list of backward class people was prepared by NCBC, which had rejected many pleas for inclusion of castes in the list. The Bench, also comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat, C K Thakker, R V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari, differentiated between rejection of a plea for being included in the list and exclusion of a caste from the list after periodic review. "Inclusion of a caste in the list would mean that it was previously socially advanced and did not figure among the backward class communities. But with time, their social status deteriorated and they had to be included in the list. This means more and more castes are getting backward as there are only inclusions and none being excluded from the list," it said. Vahanvati said as per the procedure before NCBC, a caste could be excluded from the list only if someone filed a complaint alleging that a caste had become socially advanced. "No petitions have been filed seeking exclusion of any caste," he said. The Bench replied, "Merely because there is no complaint, NCBC cannot abdicate its duty to conduct a periodic review of the social status of castes included in the backward list." Referring to the swelling number of castes in the backward list, the Bench said, "This means for 60 years, people who were disadvantaged continue to be backward. If this is so, then what is the meaning of the arrangements for social advancement of backward community for all these years?" |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #2 Get used to it my Indian friends... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-09-25 19:18 |
| #1 A seemingly skeptic Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan who is a Dalit or "untouchable" |
| Posted by: john frum 2007-09-25 17:53 |