BackGujarat govt allows EBC quota ordinance to lapse
Govt to examine other options to reach out to communities demanding reservation
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Having failed to pass a bill on it, the Gujarat government on Monday allowed an ordinance on reservation for economically backward classes (EBC) to lapse.
“The state government had the option of requesting the governor to re-promulgate the ordinance, but it has chosen not to do so and allowed it to lapse," said a senior state government official requesting anonymity.
Another official said the government would examine other options and political solutions to reach out to communities demanding reservation in education and government jobs, especially the powerful Patels.
Patels, who make up 14% of Gujarat’s population and are seen as strong supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, have been agitating for more than a year, demanding other backward class (OBC) status.
In order to address the demand, the Gujarat government declared a 10% reservation for economically backward classes among the higher castes through an ordinance promulgated in May.
This was to be applicable to those who were in the general category but earned less than Rs6 lakh a year. This was in addition to a 49.5% reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and OBCs.
There were several petitions filed in the Gujarat high court against the ordinance as it breached a rule for a total of 50% reservation.
The ordinance was struck down on 4 August in the Gujarat high court, which called it unconstitutional and illegal.
The state government then approached the Supreme Court. One of the main premises for the appeal in the apex court was that the provision of 10% quota was a genuine classification made on economic grounds and should not be treated as a reservation under the Constitution.
In addition, the state government was of the view that the capping of reservation rules in India are governed by a 1992 Supreme Court verdict and that this needed a relook.
Gujarat’s new economic classification for reservation—first announced in April—was seen to set a precedent in a country where quotas have been based on castes and tribes.
The precedent for OBCs was based on a recommendation by the Mandal Commission in 1990.
The Mandal report was to have been reviewed after 20 years, but this has not happened, leading Gujarat to argue in favour of new practices, methods and yardsticks that moved away from a caste-centric definition of reservation, said the second government official quoted earlier.
Patel quota leader Hardik Patel had rejected the EBC quota as a “lollipop".
In a statement released late evening on Monday, the Gujarat government said it will continue the recruitment process for 60,000 government jobs without the EBC quota. If the Supreme Court gives a verdict in favour of the state, the state government will immediately recruit 6,000 people under the EBC category, the statement added.
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