Reservation-only way to compensate backward classes: Jethmalani

Pune, Apr 21 (UNI) Noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani, counsel and supporter for the 27 per cent quota for backward class students in government-run institutes of higher learning, has said reservation is the only way for compensating a section of society that has been ghettoed for years.

Addressing a public meeting on the issue of ''27 per cent reservation quota for backward classes'' at the Symbiosis international here yesterday, Mr Jethmalani, said the purpose of the Constitution was to perpetuate a casteless, classless society, based on equality and the 27 per cent OBC quota will help the backward class people to make their mark in the society, which had neglected them for long.

He said there was no strength in the argument for merit based admissions, as merit or the system of examinations were no test of intelligence.

Mr Jethmalani lamented that Supreme Court judgements were getting more and more prolix. ''I am tempted to suggest that dissenting judgements must not be published,'' he said, adding that the 200-page judgement could be challenged on several points, for instance, the court has left open the question of whether the 93rd Constitutional Amendment Act also enables governments to make a law providing for reservation to OBC students in private unaided educational institutions and denying reservations to the ''creamy layer'' among the OBC's students.

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