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Welcome ruling

The Supreme Court, in yet another landmark ruling, has stayed the implementation of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006. The law was enacted without determining the exact level and extent of backwardness of various classes. The government, which is unhappy about the verdict, should have excluded the creamy layer in the law and based it on recent caste data.

Rananjay Pratap Singh,
Varanasi

The court has rightly observed that the government has not provided sufficient data to justify 27 per cent reservation for OBCs. It is amazing that a 76-year-old colonial-era census is the basis for pushing forward the so-called popular agenda.

Venkatesh Hemmige,
Hyderabad

If the government does not even have the numbers to support its policies, what is the basis of formulating them? If 60 years of reservation has led to a situation in which more castes need it, it shows the futility of reservation itself.

Why are politicians bent on snatching away the dignity of OBCs to compete and qualify as equals? I pray to them not to undercut the importance of logic in legal decisions. I hope they will not bring in backdoor legislation to reverse the flow of logic.

Sumit Sen,
Ambernath, Maharashtra

Reservation for SCs and STs is justified because they have faced social discrimination for centuries. Most of the OBCs have never faced any discrimination.

In the post-independence period, many so-called backward castes have become economically and educationally strong. There is talk of referendum on the issue. But it will only escalate tensions.

Karavadi Raghava Rao,
Vijayawada

By staying the implementation of the law, the Supreme Court has protected the country's interests. It has reinforced the faith of the younger generation in fairness and democracy.

K. Kapali,
Secunderabad

The stay provides the much-needed breathing time that the IITs and the IIMs need to cope with the politically motivated law.

C.S. Ramalingam,
Chennai

All political parties conveniently ignored the fact that the one-size-fits-all legislation that did not exclude the affluent sections among the reserved categories would violate the right to equality.

Parliament should have at least strived to devise a workable formula to exclude the creamy layer from the benefits of reservation.

V.N. Mukundarajan,
Thiruvananthapuram

The Court's observation that the 1931 census may have some relevance but it cannot be the determining factor is a clear verdict on the government's negligence. Without having the latest statistics, how did the government arrive at the 27 per cent figure?

P. Anbuchelvan,
Chennai

Caste-based reservation in institutions of higher learning will only perpetuate inequality and divide students along communal and caste lines. If equality is the objective of reservation, it should be based on economic and social backwardness irrespective of caste considerations. To continue a caste-based reservation system is to scuttle the constitutional requirement of eliminating casteism.

Jacob George,
Changanacherry

The interim order is welcome. The anger spilling on to the streets against reservation was a clear indicator of frustration among the youth. The state should train the backward sections to run with the best in the race rather than make them and generations after them socially handicapped. Open competition is the only way to erase inequality. Allowing youngsters to fly off to other countries, and inviting them on Pravasi Diwas to honour them will serve no purpose.

Nisha Philip,
Chennai

The Court has not questioned the state's right to provide social justice. It has only asked the state to provide the logic behind caste-based reservation. Parliament might have passed the law unanimously. But it has done so only to perpetuate caste-based politics, not to provide social justice. The law reflects the lack of progressive thinking among our politicians. All that is popular need not be justifiable, just as what is justifiable may not be popular.

Suresh Babu Nandigam,
Hanuman Junction, A.P.

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