Author: J. Venkatesan
Publication: The Hindu
Date: August 15, 2007
URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/08/15/stories/2007081559450100.htm
A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme
Court considering the validity of the law providing 27 per cent quota for
the Other Backward Castes on Tuesday observed that reservation would have
to be stopped some day.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan,
Justice Arijit Pasayat, Justice C. K. Thakker, Justice R. V. Raveendran and
Justice Dalveer Bhandari told senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for one
of the petitioners, "It [reservation] will have to stop some day…
after some years or decades. It must come to an end one day." Mr. Salve
had argued that reservation could not be a perpetual one as it should end
one day.
The Bench said, "If it is perpetuated,
the entire object will be defeated. Since it [law] is an enabling provision
it has to be time-bound. Conceptually it [reservation] has to be terminated
at some point of time." 'Periodical review'
To a question from the Bench whether reservation
could be withdrawn after it had achieved its purpose, Mr. Salve said "reservation
cannot be a perpetual one. There must be a periodical review of the policy
to see whether the object is being achieved or not".
Mr. Salve harped on the need for exclusion
of "creamy layer" from the purview of reservation as otherwise vested
interest would be created in the society. Further arguments will continue
on Thursday.
The All-India Backward Classes, SC/ST Action
Committee in a petition justified the quota law and said exclusion of "creamy
layer" would be detrimental to the interests of the OBC/SC/ST population.
It said that the apex court had stayed implementation of the OBC quota this
year without giving any opportunity to any of the OBC organisations although
the order directly affected OBC students.
The petitioner contended that the defenders
of merit had never answered the persistent question as to why they had never
raised a storm against the private colleges which admitted unqualified students
on payment of hefty capitation fee, whether it was for admission to engineering,
medical or any other professional course.
It sought a direction to implement the quota
law and to dismiss all the petitions questioning its implementation.
