Govt justifies reservation for OBC

New Delhi, July 26: The Centre has justified its proposal to provide 27.5 per cent reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in admission to institutions of higher education.

In a counter affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the Government also opposed religion-based reservation to Muslims contradicting the stand of Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh who had said reservation can be provided for Muslims also.

The Centre contended that reservation on the basis of religion would be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution which ensures equality to all citizens before the law irrespective of their caste, creed, religion and gender.

Such religion-based reservation do not fall within the ambit of Article 15(4),15(5) or 16(4) of the Constitution, the affidavit, filed by Joint Secretary Sunil Kumar on behalf of the Union Government, said.

Challenging the maintainability of the PIL questioning the reservation policy of the Government, the Centre said that the petition is premature as the impugned order of the HRD Minister was only a proposal which is yet to be accepted by the Government.

The proposal cannot be implemented without an Act of Parliament and, therefore, the issue would have to be discussed threadbare before it becomes law of the land, it said.

The affidavit denied all averments made in the PIL filed by Ashok Thakur as ''incorrect'' and contrary to the records.

The affidavit says that the proposal is yet to be finalised and draft legislation for the consideration by both houses of Parliament has not been prepared.

UNI