Nod for bills to annul SC ruling on quota, devolution

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 16. Parliament today put its seal of approval on two separate Constitution amendment bills seeking to nullify the Supreme Court judgment fixing 50 per cent ceiling in filling up backlog of vacancies for Scheduled Castes and Tribes and to devolve 29 per cent central taxes to States.

The Rajya Sabha endorsed both the bills which were approved by the Lok Sabha last week. The bills would now be referred to the President, Mr. K.R. Narayanan, for his assent.

Approval of Rajya Sabha to the quota bill was unanimous but not before a bitter clash between members of the AIADMK and DMK on whether the credit for 69 per cent reservation in Tamil Nadu should go to AIADMK government under the leadership of Ms. J. Jayalalitha or the DMK government led by Mr. M. Karunanidhi.

As the clash between the members of the two parties threatened to take an ugly turn the Deputy Chairman, Mrs. Najma Heptullah, adjourned the House for half-an-hour. Calm returned only after the floor leaders sorted out the issue at a meeting in the chambers of Deputy Chairperson.

The AIADMK while welcoming the decision to nullify the Supreme Court judgment with regard to filling up of backlog of vacancies registered its protest on the Bill on the ground that it will weaken the case pending in the apex court on states exceeding 50 per cent ceiling of reservation.

Mr. Margabandhu (AIADMK) argued that the Tamil Nadu Government led by Ms. Jayalalitha had got a bill approved in the Assembly to legalise 69 per cent reservation in the state of Tamil Nadu and prevailed on the union government to put it in Ninth Schedule taking away the jurisdiction of courts on the subject. The issue is currently pending in the Supreme Court.

The Constitution amendment bill on devolution of 29 per cent central taxes to states as per the recommendations of the Tenth Finance Commission was approved unanimously. In his reply the Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, paid rich compliments to the Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Manmohan Singh and senior Congress leader, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee for their speeches on the Bill.

In his reply the Finance Minister said the government would convene that an all-party meeting for evolving a national consensus to check fiscal deficit after presentation of eleventh finance commission report in June end.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : Time ripe to nab Prabhakaran: Swamy
Next     : CPI(M-L) for autonomous State within Assam