'S.C. ceiling no hurdle to quota'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 10. The Government today assured the Lok Sabha that it would not allow the Supreme Court's ceiling of 50 per cent on SC/ST job reservation to come in the way of individual States going in for a bigger quota.

The Union Law Minister, Mr. Ram Jethmalani, said the Centre was fully behind Tamil Nadu's policy of 69 per cent reservations, which had been challenged in the Supreme Court, and even if the court gave an adverse judgment the Government would take necessary constitutional measures to get round it.

After his statement, the Lok Sabha passed the Constitution (Ninetieth Amendment) Bill seeking to exclude the backlog of reserved vacancies from the 50 per cent cap. In a rare show of unanimity 418 out of the 419 members, who were present, voted for the Bill which would have the effect of undoing a 1997 Supreme Court ruling that the 50 per cent ceiling should include the backlog. It would restore the pre-1997 practice of treating the backlog as a separate category, without prejudice to the 50 per cent cap.

The Minister of State for Personnel, Ms. Vasundhara Raje, while moving the Bill said it reflected the Government's ``commitment'' to the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It also redeemed the Prime Minister's promise on the issue.

The statement of objects and reasons attached to the Bill said that various organisations including political parties had represented demanding restoration of the pre-1997 status, and the measure was intended to protect SC/ST interests.

Mr. Jethmalani, during his intervention, ruffled Opposition feathers more than once and invited the charge of ``politicising'' a non-political issue: a charge which he himself had hurled at the Opposition when he rose to speak. He clashed repeatedly with the Congress(I) and AIADMK members who objected to some of his remarks, particularly his comment that those who were ``beating their chests'' now had done precious little to protect the SC/ST interests when they were in power.

The Opposition protested that the Minister was trying to score political points and suggested that since there was unanimity on the Bill it should be put to vote without further discussion. The Congress(I)'s Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, among others, said they were not prepared to listen to him any longer to which Mr. Jethmalani retorted that it was a case of ``truth'' hurting the Opposition.

The Samajwadi Party leader, Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, repeatedly interrupted the Minister to protest that neither the Prime Minister nor the Home Minister had condemned the French media's undignified comment on the President, Mr. K. R. Narayanan, calling him an ``untouchable''. He termed the Government's ``silence'' as reflecting its ``mindset'' and that no amount of SC/ST-friendly legislation could make up for it.

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