Date:23/12/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/12/23/stories/2005122314810100.htm

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Parliament passes reservation Bill

Special Correspondent

172 vote in favour; two against the Bill

NEW DELHI: The Constitution (104th) Amendment Bill providing reservation for the socially and educationally backward classes, besides the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, in private unaided educational institutions was passed in Parliament on Thursday with the Rajya Sabha adopting the Bill by a majority vote. The Bill was passed in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

While 172 members voted in favour of the legislation, two members opposed it. An amendment to drop the provision of excluding the minority educational institutions from the purview of the Bill, moved by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj was defeated in the House, also by a majority vote.

Moving the Bill, Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh described it as an "enabling legislation" and said all States would be required to draft their own laws to ensure implementation of the Constitution amendment.

He appealed to the State Governments to fulfil their responsibility of drafting the laws in the next two or three months so that guidelines are in place before the next academic session begins. This would ensure that a proper admission and fee structure is in place by then, he said, adding that he had no doubt that all the States would fulfil their responsibility in this regard.

Pointing out that the present scenario on the higher education front was not "pleasant enough," Mr. Singh said efforts were to be taken to correct this.

Reacting to the observation made by Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) on inclusion of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) under the purview of the legislation, Mr. Singh said the issue needed to be debated on a national level for a consensus.