Agency report

• Asks the government to act responsibly and to refrain from dividing the society on caste basis

New Delhi, Mar 29: A Supreme Court Bench on Thursday stayed the 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in institutes of higher education, including IIMs and IITs.

The Bench comprising Justice Arijit Pasayat and L S Panta brushed aside the government's claim that the quota would not affect the general category students.

The Bench said the OBC quota was vote bank politics. It also noted that no data on OBCs was collected in the last 76 years.

It also opined that the Centre has to determine the socially and economically backward people of India before the Central Educational Institutions Act can be given effect.

The Bench also said the government should stay away from dividing the society on caste basis and asked it to behave in a responsible manner.

Various organizations and individuals had challenged the Centre's decision to implement 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in elite institutions.

Most politicians upset with quota verdict

New Delhi: Most political parties criticised the Supreme Court decision Thursday to stay the implementation of quotas for backward classes in central higher education institutes like the IITs and IIMs.

But their reasons for disagreeing with the apex court decision, which has stayed the implementation of the 27 percent quota till Aug 3, were different.

While the ruling Congress said the ruling was 'unfortunate' and showed that the court was 'still driven by the old mindset', the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) blamed the government for not making the law 'foolproof'.

Former prime minister V.P. Singh, who leads the Jan Morcha, recommended a referendum on the issue of reservation. Left leaders called it a judgement that had pitted the judiciary against parliament -- the legislation to provide quotas for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) was passed by parliament unanimously in December.

The apex court questioned the central government's decision to enforce 27 percent reservation in institutions like Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), saying that there was no proper documentation about the population of OBCs.

Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh said: 'I will do what is legally correct and address what is socially required.'

'The quota law was a unanimous decision of parliament and we would strictly adhere to it,' he told reporters here.

Describing the ruling as 'extremely unfortunate', Madhusudan Mistry, chief whip of Congress in the Lok Sabha, said: 'It shows (the court) was not keeping pace with the realities in this country. It is still driven by the old mindset inherited from set religious principles and family values.'

He added that the law had given 'protection for deprived communities from the hidden biases' in the Indian system.

'The court did not see the millions of people who have been sidelined because of the caste they belong to,' Mistry told IANS.

Taking a different view, the BJP said the ruling had questioned the credibility of the central government itself.

'Unfortunately, the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) had handled this issue casually and irresponsibly,' BJP leader Mukthar Abbas Naqvi said. 'There should have been a foolproof legislation.'

Admitting that the government should have handled the issue more carefully, V.P. Singh called for a referendum on quota. He, however, did not agree with the court's observation that reservation was 'vote bank politics'.

The Left parties, who back Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government, also took strong exception to the judicial move.

'In our constitution, the responsibilities of judiciary, executive and legislature are clearly defined. These are coming under question with this judgement. It needs to be dealt with,' Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury said.

Biju Janata Dal MP Tathagata Satpathy, the only one to oppose the bill when it was put for voice vote in the Lok Sabha, was the sole voice welcoming the judgement.

'It is a very sensible decision. All the political parties should be fair to the future generation,' he said.

'Reservation cannot be continued for ever and the true benefits should go to the people who are economically backward, because there are only two castes here - the rich and the poor,' Sathpaty said.

The Congress-led government's decision to bring the legislation had created major controversy with medical students vehemently opposing the bill.

Nationwide protests that lasted for more than two weeks forced the government to work out a compromise under which seats in the 'general category' (where anyone could apply) would remain unaffected, while the quotas would be implemented in a staggered manner.

The Oversight Committee headed by senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily had estimated that the cost of implementation of affirmative action would be over Rs.90 billion.