SC to hear Centre's plea on OBC quota

New Delhi, Aug. 7: The Supreme Court will today hear the Centre's application seeking removal of a stay on the implementation of 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) students in institutions of higher education.

A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan will hear the Centre's plea.

The five-judge bench will also hear the main petition on the constitutional validity of the controversial act providing quota for OBCs.

Earlier, the court had fixed August 7 as the date for examining the constitutional validity of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act 2006, which provides reservations for OBCs.

Reserving its order on the issue on May 9, an apex bench comprising of Justices Arijit Pasayat and L S Panta had asked Solicitor General G E Vahanvati and senior advocate Harish Salve to respond to various questions put forward by concerned parties.

In a major setback to the Centre, the apex court had stated that it found no reason to vacate the stay imposed by its March 29 interim order, directing the government to put on hold the implementation of OBC quota in the academic session 2007-08.

The government wants to increase the number of seats in colleges for lower caste students to 49.5 per cent from 22.5 per cent, a move strongly opposed by mainly upper caste students.

ANI
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