No fresh data in Centre appl in OBC

New Delhi, Aug 7: The Government again faced the music in the Supreme Court today for failing to submit any fresh data to justify its policy of providing 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in the institutions of higher learning.

Solicitor General G E Vahanvati, appearing for the Centre, failed to submit any authentic data to justify the government's new reservation policy before a five-judge Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices Arijit Pasayat, C K Thakker, R V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari.

The Bench will start hearing the main petition tomorrow challenging the reservation policy of the government as well as the constitutional validity of Central Educational Institution (Admission) Act, 2006 which makes provision for providing reservation to OBCs.

The Centre failed to get the interim order of March 29, 2007 vacated staying the operation of the impugned government notification for one year.

Counsel for anti-reservationists, led by senior counsel Harish Salve contended before the court that any interference with the interim order at this stage will create more confusion and the ''heavens will not fall'' if the government notification is implemented from next year.

The counsels also pointed out that the government has not undertaken any sincere effort to justify its policy of reservation.

The Solicitor General also refused to concede anything in relation to the legislation and made it clear before the court that he did not agree to the exclusion of creamy layer from the benefits of reservation.

Senior counsel K K Venugopal and P P Rao also opposed the vacation of interim stay saying that nothing new has been given in the application of the Centre and no infrastructure has been repaired by the government and the beneficiaries of the reservation policy are yet to be identified.

Under these circumstances the court should not entertain the application of the Government for modification of the interim order and proceed with the hearing of the main petition in the case.

At least 13 states have not supplied any data to the court.

The counsels also pleaded that the Division Bench had stayed the impugned notification only on the grounds that there was no authentic and reliable data available with the government at least to justify 27 per cent reservation for OBCs and till date the government has not given any fresh data in its application.

A total amount of about 73,000 crore is required to provide infrastructure for implementation of the quota, they said. The application of the Centre has nothing new to say and all contentions raised have already been considered in detail by the two-judge Bench of this court.

UNI