Tag: Muslim quota over

New Delhi (IANS) | The Karnataka government told the Supreme Court that it has taken a conscious decision not to continue reservation for the Muslim community on the basis of religion only, as it is unconstitutional and against Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The state government informed that on March 27, the 4 per cent reservation provided to Muslims was scrapped and members of the community were allowed to take benefits of reservation under the EWS scheme.

The government said that it should be noted that the benefits of reservation under Group I of the 2002 Reservation Order will continue to be provided to the backward groups of the Muslim community.

The state government said that reservation based only on religion is contrary to the principles of social justice. Therefore, reservation cannot be given to any community only on the basis of religion.

The state said that the provision of reservation on the basis of religion would be contrary to the concept of secularism.

The government said that just because reservation on the basis of religion has been provided in the past is no ground to continue it forever.

The State Government stated that there are socially and educationally backward sections of the society, who have been historically disadvantaged and discriminated against and cannot be clubbed with an entire religion, and asserted that the Mandal Commission had clearly Found that religion cannot be the sole basis of reservation.

The affidavit states: No reservation has been given to the Muslim community on the basis of religion in the Central List. There are various communities of Muslim religion who are included in SEBC, they continue to have reservation in Karnataka as well.

The state government said that on the basis of the 103rd amendment, the benefit of 10 percent reservation on the basis of economic criteria (EWS) can be availed by the Muslim community.

The affidavit states that the inclusion of the Muslim community in the category of Other Backward Classes in 1979 was contrary to the recommendations of the First Backward Classes Commission headed by LG Havanur.

In the case of Andhra Pradesh, the Supreme Court allowed reservation only for limited identifiable communities among Muslims and not for the entire religion.

–IANS

New Delhi (IANS) | The Karnataka government on Tuesday assured the Supreme Court that it would not act on its March 27 verdict scrapping the 4 per cent Muslim quota in the OBC category for jobs and education. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Karnataka government, said he would file a reply during the day. Justice K.M. Joseph and B.V. Nagaratna’s bench will now hear the matter on May 9.

The apex court ordered that the earlier arrangement would continue till the next date of hearing as Tushar Mehta sought an adjournment in the matter.

The Solicitor General has demanded the court to hear the matter some other day.

The bench said that as per the assurance of the Solicitor General no appointment would be made and there would be no prejudice to any dispute.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the petitioners, opposed Mehta’s request for adjournment of the matter, saying the hearing has already been postponed four times.

Dave said that they would do it again and the petitioners would be affected by it. Mehta said that the interim order passed by the court is already with the petitioners.

Mehta had said on April 18 that the Karnataka government needed more time to file its affidavit.

The apex court adjourned the hearing till April 25.

The state government had assured on April 13 that it would neither grant admissions to educational institutions nor make job appointments as per its March 27 order.

The Supreme Court had made some strong observations against the way the Karnataka government scrapped the 4 per cent OBC quota for Muslims and placed them under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category. It said that the foundation of the decision-making process is highly unstable and flawed.

The top court had told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Karnataka government, that it appears from the order passed by you that the foundation of the decision-making process is highly untenable and flawed. It is on an interim report, the state could have waited for a final report, what is the hurry?

The petitioners have challenged the Karnataka government’s decision to abolish the Muslim quota in the apex court.

–IANS