The Hindu : Front Page : Rajasthan must comply with procedure, says Law Ministry

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Tuesday, Jun 03, 2008
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Rajasthan must comply with procedure, says Law Ministry

J. Venkatesan

New Delhi: The Union Law Ministry, in its opinion on granting the Scheduled Tribe status to the Gujjar community, is understood to have said that the Rajasthan government must take the initiative and follow the procedure contemplated in ‘Office Memorandum’ for declaring a community as ST.

In its opinion sent to the Home Ministry, the Law Ministry maintained that though it was the Centre’s job to grant the ST status, it could not be done on the basis of a letter written by Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Sufficient data

Highly placed sources in the Law Ministry pointed out that reservation to a particular community could be granted under Article 16 (1) the Constitution, but the decision had to be taken by the State government. Once such a decision was taken, the State government must provide sufficient data regarding the community, its present social status and the justification thereof for extending the benefit of reservation to that community.

Sources said that after the State government submitted the proposal following the procedure in accordance with the Supreme Court judgment in the Mandal case and incorporated in the office memorandum,’ it would go the Registrar-General of Census for verification of the data and only then could the Centre take a decision.

The Law Ministry’s opinion on the issue was sought by the Prime Minister’s Office after Ms. Raje wrote a letter stating that the State government had recommended four to six per cent quota for Gujjars in the category of de-notified class of tribals/nomadic tribe.

The Gujjar agitation over the issue left 43 dead in Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Region.

The Home Ministry is expected to inform the Rajasthan government the Law Ministry’s opinion and to request the State to act accordingly, sourced added.

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