The Hindu : National : Include reservation in Ninth Schedule: JD(U)

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Include reservation in Ninth Schedule: JD(U)

Special Correspondent

`Unjust to introduce economic criterion in the name of creamy layer'

Sharad Yadav

NEW DELHI: The Janata Dal (United) on Thursday demanded that all Acts and issues relating to reservation of weaker sections be included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution "to avoid judicial interference."

Reacting to the Supreme Court's decision to exclude the creamy layer from reservation for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, JD (U) President Sharad Yadav urged the Government to convene Parliament to discuss the situation and take "remedial and constitutional steps." He said that either the caste system should be eradicated or the reservation policy in the Ninth Schedule.

Mr. Yadav told reporters that it was "unjust" to introduce an economic criterion in the name of creamy layer.

"The court's verdict has provided an additional tool in the hands of those who are against the empowerment of weaker sections. The creamy layer concept will ensure that the seats reserved for SC/STs are never filled. There are lakhs of posts vacant for SC/STs and this backlog will swell."

On the observation that there was no data on the population of Other Backward Classes, he said OBCs could not be punished for the no-caste census after 1931. He said no one could challenge the authenticity of the 1931 Census.

"On that basis we can say that if in 1931 the OBC population in India was 52 per cent, it is now 62 per cent," he said.

Mr. Yadav said that the court's order on reservation in promotion to SC/STs would lead to an "end of the reservations." He said that the policy had not been implemented "honestly" for the last six decades.

The issues of Special Economic Zones Act and the sealing of commercial establishments in residential areas also need to be taken up in Parliament, he added.

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