Date:31/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/31/stories/2007033105991200.htm

National

JD(U) asks Centre not to implement court order

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Janata Dal (United) has asked the Central government not to implement the Supreme Court's interim order of March 29 that stayed the 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in higher central educational institutions. The party has sought an all-party meeting on recent "socially negative" judgment of the courts and demanded a fresh caste census.

Asserting that "a two-judge bench [that delivered the judgment] cannot overrule the 1992 order of a nine-judge bench [that upheld the Mandal list of OBCs]," the party's president, Sharad Yadav, on Friday urged the government to take steps for setting up a national judicial commission and provide reservations to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs in the judiciary.

The party also demanded implementation of reservation to OBCs in higher education from the coming academic year as originally scheduled. "I appeal to the Centre not to implement this interim order of the Supreme Court as it is already implementing the order of the nine-judge Bench of Supreme Court in 1992. The government should take immediate steps to ensure the reservations to OBCs in academic session 2007-08," he said at a press conference here.

Mr. Yadav said if the court felt that the 1931 census could not be the basis for OBC reservations because it was outdated, then why did the court not ask the government to undertake a fresh caste census. If the government discontinued caste census after independence, the OBCs should not be "punished" for it, he said.