Bangalore: The two Houses of the State legislature on Tuesday adopted a resolution calling upon the Union Government to take all steps to ensure the smooth implementation of the 27 per cent reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in institutions of higher learning, including the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Management.

The resolution, moved in the legislature by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, called upon "the Union Government to take all steps for the immediate implementation of the 27 per cent reservation set apart for the Other Backward Classes."

Speaking on the resolution, Congress leader M. Mallikarjun Kharge said he foresaw impediments in the implementation of reservation in education and employment for the downtrodden sections in the country, including the OBCs, if the growing opposition to it was any indication.

Supporting the Union Government's action in providing 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in Central higher educational institutions such as IIMs and IITs, he noted that reservation was not new to the country.

Tamil Nadu had done it a long time ago and Maharashtra had not only provided reservation, but also given scholarships to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

He said the Maharaja of Baroda encouraged B.R. Ambedkar by sending him abroad for higher education. The Princely State of Mysore introduced reservation in 1902. It was unfortunate that opposition to reservation was growing in democratic India.

It portended a bleak future for these sections unless suitable measures were initiated to stem the trend.

The former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah urged the Centre to appoint a chairman and members for the permanent backward classes commission as directed the Supreme Court ten years ago. Action should also be initiated to start the caste-based survey for which Rs. 1 crore had been sanctioned by him when he headed the Finance Ministry.

Mr. Siddaramaiah and Housing Minister D.T. Jayakumar said that like Tamil Nadu, a bandh should be organised in the State to send the correct message to the Supreme Court on the issue.

Water Resources Minister K.S. Eshwarappa, G.V. Srirama Reddy (CPI-M) and H.C. Mahadevappa and B.R. Patil (suspended JD-S members) spoke.

The Janata Dal (U) leader J.C. Madhuswamy and Jayaprakash Hegde (Independent) supported the resolution, but opposed the bandh idea.

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