HASSAN: Minister for Women and Child Development H.K. Kumaraswamy has said reservation should continue as long social inequality exists in society. There were different explanations about the creamy layer by experts and the common man was confused by this, he added.

He was addressing a gathering after inaugurating a seminar on the Supreme Court judgement on excluding the creamy layer from reservation. The seminar was organised by various Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe organisations at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Bhavan in Hassan on Monday.

The Minister felt that there should be a discussion on reservation, based on social inequality and not on economic inequality.

He said reservation was brought not only for the economic benefit of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe but for the benefit of society.

He wanted a survey on the implementation of reservation category-wise and regretted that posts reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Union Government were not filled up by such candidates.

Former chairman of the Backward Classes Commission and senior High Court advocate Ravi Varma Kumar said reservation was brought not only for ending unemployment but also for bridging the gap between castes and for the uplift of Dalits. If the Government implemented the Supreme Court judgement keeping the creamy layer outside the purview of reservation, it would create more injustice to Dalits.

Mr. Ravi Varma Kumar said it was the legislature that brought in the laws and the executive that implemented them. The judiciary could review whether the laws were being executed properly by the executive. However, of late, the judiciary was interfering in the work of the legislature.

M.S. Sekhar from the Hema Gangothri Postgraduate Centre described the Supreme Court judgement as anti-Dalit.

He said at the national level there were 4.5 crore government employees and according to reservation norms, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes should get 1.5 crore jobs. He expressed happiness that 60 years after Independence, a Dalit was becoming Chief Justice of India.

Dalit Sangharsha Samithi State committee member K. Earappa presided. The BSP State secretary Sridhar Kaliveer and Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer F.R. Jamaadar spoke.

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