From rxpgnews.com
MPs ask government to ensure quota for backward classes
By IANS,
Apr 26, 2007 - 6:00:37 PM
New Delhi, April 26 - Parliamentarians Thursday urged the government to find ways to implement 27 percent reservation for the other backward classes - in central higher educational institutions from the current academic year in the wake of the Supreme Court suspending the relevant law.
According to Lok Sabha secretariat sources, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee would convene a meeting of all party leaders to discuss ways to deal with the situation.
While MPs, cutting across party lines, insisted that the government should convince the apex court about the need to implement the law - that was passed unanimously by both houses of parliament - some members expressed concern that the judiciary was going beyond its constitutional mandate.
Raising the matter in the Lok Sabha during question hour, DMK leader C. Kuppuswami said the government should convene a joint sitting of both the houses to pass a unanimous resolution for implementing the bill providing for 27 percent reservation to OBCs in higher educational institutions.
The Bharatiya Janata Party --led opposition, however, said the government was not prepared to present the case properly before the apex court.
The government's attempt to get the stay order lifted through a review petition did not succeed, but Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan has assured that there would be an early hearing over the issue by a constitutional bench.
'It was a failure from the government's side that it failed to convince the court,' Biju Janata Dal MP Brij Kishore Tripathy said.
The apex court has suspended the execution of the law saying that the government did not produce the proper documents to prove the population of the OBCs in the country.
Shiromani Akali Dal MP S.S. Dhindsa, however, said: 'The government should ensure that the economically backward people should get the benefits.'
Devendra Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal asked: 'Will the government ensure that the quota is implemented and that these institutions - stepping on each other?
Santosh Gangwar -, L. Ganeshan -, Mohammad Salim - Ramgopal Yadav -, C. Chandrappan - K. Yerran Naidu - and P.C. Thomas - also raised the issue.
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