SC refuses to vacate stay on OBC quota
8 Aug 2007, 1042 hrs IST , PTI
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court's five-judge Constitution Bench on Wednesday refused to lift stay on the implementation of 27 per cent quota for OBCs in elite educational institutions.
"We are not going to pass any interim order," a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said.
The Bench said it will hear the main petition to examine the Constitutional validity of the Centre Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act 2006.
Last week, a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan had said that it would be proper to place the Centre's application seeking vacation of stay on OBC quota before the Constitution Bench, which would hear the PILs challenging the validity of laws permitting 27% OBC quota.
The main argument of the Centre in seeking vacation of stay after its first unsuccessful attempt was the apex court's order allowing Tamil Nadu to increase the seats in institutions to accommodate 69% reservation for backward classes. It had said CEIs (Reservation in Admissions) Act, 2006, envisaged the same situation - increase in the number of seats so that seats meant for general category were not reduced.
However, the government did not point out that the apex court allowed the 69% reservation to continue with increase in seats as the Tamil Nadu reservation law had been put in the ninth schedule, barring the apex court from scrutinising the legality of the legislation.
(Chronicle Note: The above information is provided as a published news item. Chronicle has no position about reservation.)