'SC order not a setback; to overcome hurdles'

New Delhi, Mar 29: Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh today said the Supreme Court order on the OBC reservation was not a setback for the government.

''I am fully confident that the apex court will finally hold the law valid,'' he told reporters here.

The Minister said the government will take all constitutional and legal measures required to ensure that the law was finally found valid.

The apex court today ordered a stay on the law providing 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in elite educational institutions.

Mr Singh said in his view there was no basis to say that the Supreme Court order was a setback. ''You are free to interpret it otherwise, but I see no basis,'' he added.

He said it was Parliament that had passed the reservation law with the constitution amendment having been carried out unanimously.

So there was no question of going back on the principle. ''As far legal objections are concerned, we will overcome them,'' he said.

The Central Educational Institutions Act, providing for reservation in institutions of higher education, had come into effect last year.

UNI

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