Provide correct, complete information to SC: Left

New Delhi, Apr 17: Claiming that the revision petition filed by the government in the Supreme Court on OBC reservation is" ''incomplete in many respects," the Left parties today asked the ruling coalition to furnish "more correct" details to get vacated the Apex Court's stay on 27 per cent reservations of OBCs in higher education institutions.

The CPI, CPI(M) and Forward Bloc said the government should also furnish details on the basis of which the Mandal Commission came to the conclusion of 52 per cent reservation for OBC population in the country.

The Centre in its application, referred to the court's ruling that the use of socially and educationally backward classes and Other backward classes was flawed as it was based on the 1931 consensus. "The 1931 consensus was not the basis for identification of castes for inclusion in the lists of socially and educationally BC and OBC," it said.

CPI leaders A B Bardhan and Shamim Faizi said the revision petition filed by the government was incomplete and reflected the confusion within the government. The criterion for including various castes in the OBCs list was drawn by the Mandal Commissio after examining their status on about a dozen parametres.

"Caste, according to the Varan viasatha( Caste ystem) was not the only criterion.. Educational status, availability of dwellings, drinking water, average of child marriage and income were some other considerations while drawing the OBC list," Mr Bardhan and Mr Faizi said.

The CPI leaders said the government in its petition had not referred to this fact. The list, drawn in 1980, was not based on the 1931 census as claimed by the apex Court.

The present ruling of the SC went against its own interpretation in the OBC reservation case. Besides, the SC had ignored the provisions of the OBC Act 1993, they added.

"The UPA government, if it is really sincere in providing reservations to the OBC students in higher educaitonal, institutions, must insist on the earliest decision of the SC and validity of the 1993 Act," they added.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and Rajya Sabha member Sitaram Yechury also said that it was wrong to claim that the Mandal Commission relied only on the 1931 consensus.

"The Commission had evolved a calculation on the basis of the existing realities late in the 1970s and 1980's, "Mr Yechury said adding that existing reservations were also based on the lists prepared in some states. "So to argue that the 1931 cnsensus alone is the basis is not correct." Mr Yechury emphasised that the government should apprise the apex court of the recent findings of the National Sample Survey which had estimated the OBC population among the Hindus at 43 per cent.

The Survey, Mr Yechury said, had also shown the OBC population among the Muslims as 41 per cent.

Forward Bloc Naitional Secretary G Devrajan pleaded that the government should also infrom the apex court that the 55th and the 61st reports of the Naitonal Sample Survey had clearly indicated the educational and social backwardness of the OBCs in the country.

As the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes were already getting 22.5 per cent reservations, the Forward Bloc leader said the Mandal Commision in the 1980 found the OBC's population to be 52 per cent of the total population. "It is our constituiona obligation to implement the recent legislaiton passed by both houses of Parliament on OBCs reservations," he added.

UNI