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We are against religion-based reservation: UPA Govt tells SC


SATYA PRAKASH NEW DELHI, JUL 26 (PTI)
In a stand opposite to that of Y S Rajasekhar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh, the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre has told the Supreme Court that it is against religion-based reservation as it would violate citizens' fundamental right to equality.

In an affidavit filed in the Court in response to a PIL against its move to give 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in educational institutions, the Centre said "that a policy allowing for reservation based on religion would violate the fundamental right to equality enshrined in the Constitution.

"As a result, reservations for Muslims alone would be squarely discriminatory," it said.

The Centre's stand runs counter to that of the Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh where Muslims were given five per cent reservation in educational institutions and government jobs.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court had last year struck down the controversial Andhra Pradesh Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments/Posts in the Public Services under the State to Muslim Community Act, 2005 and the state government has moved the Supreme Court against the decision.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal earlier refused to stay the High Court order and referred a bunch of appeals, including the one from Andhra Pradesh government, to a Constitution Bench.

The apex court had, however, clarified that those already admitted in educational institutions or employed with public offices under the impugned law would not be disturbed and status quo would continue to this extent.

A five-judge Bench of the High Court had last year declared the Act as unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 15(4) and 16(4) of the Constitution.

Having opposed religion-based reservation, the Centre said "the existing and any proposed reservation policy, therefore, envisages reservation for all castes/classes that are socially and educationally backward, regardless of religious faith." It pointed out that the Central list of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and Other Backward Classes for the purpose of reservations in employment consisted of a number of communities belonging to religious minorities who were eligible for reservations due to their social and educational backwardness.

The affidavit further said it was in addition to the rights of the minority communities to establish and administer educational institutions under Article 30(1) of the Constitution without there being any ceilings on reservations for their respective communities in the institutions of their choice established or administered by them.

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Industry leaders meet PM on job reservation in private sector


NEW DELHI, JULY 27 (PTI)
Outlining the affirmative action that it was willing to take for empowering the socially underprivileged, captains of Indian industry have submitted a plan of action to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but opposed any law to impose job quotas in the private sector.

CII President R Seshasayee, Assocham President Anil Agarwal and J J Irani, who chaired a CII-appointed panel on job reservations in the private sector, submitted the Irani Committee report that opposed "curtailment of freedom of employers" in the matter of employment.

Asked about the response of the Prime Minister, Seshasayee said: "We submitted the report yesterday. Details of this and interaction with Prime Minister will be disclosed tomorrow.

According to sources, the Irani panel has said in the report that industry chambers are lokoing at a code of conduct for implementing the affirmative action, which will come into effect from October this year, and this will be implemented by the companies individually.

The report is understood to have promised to help Dalits to get jobs, sources said, adding that the industry has agreed to create 100 entrepreneurs from the SC/ST categories in one year.

The Irani Committee was formed by CII and Assocham to suggest ways and means to help the backward people to get employment to avoid any legislation by the government in this regard.

Besides Irani, the committee had five members -- R Seshasayee, Anil Aggarwal, Sunil Munjal of Hero Honda group and Subodh Bhargav, past president of CII.

The report has categorically stated that any recommendation of the Irani panel on affirmative action would be implemented on voluntary basis and there would be no law to regulate it.

While stating that freedom to employ is non-negotiable, the industry is understood to have made big promises to help the backward and underprivileged sections of society for employment.

The industry chambers declined to reveal the details of the report as it is being disclosed tomorrow.

No final decision on 27 per cent reservation for OBCs: Govt

July 26, 2006 23:49 IST

The Centre has told the Supreme Court that it is yet to take a final decision on 27 per cent reservation for other backward castes in educational institutions under it and the contours of the policy was still being examined within the government.

"There is, as yet no final decision with regard to policy of reservation in matters of admission in institutions under the central government and if any such decision can be implemented, in terms of the requirement of Article 15 (5), only by an appropriate law enacted by Parliament," the Centre said in an affidavit filed in the court in response to a public interest litigation challenging its move to give 27 per cent reservation to OBCs.

The policy on OBC reservation was only a proposal and "...even if a draft legislative Bill is finalised, the same would be subject to debate and passage in Parliament", it said. Terming the petition by one Ashok Kumar Thakur as "premature and improper", the Centre requested the court to dismiss it for having asked the court "to intervene in the executive's prerogative to examine and formulate public policy options as also in the privilege of Parliament as the legislature to make appropriate laws for the purpose."

On the creamy layer issue in reservation, the Government said it was currently being debated and "a decision is yet to be taken on whether the concept of 'creamy layer' is applicable in the context of access to higher education as it is in matters of employment." It denied that Mandal Commission inflated the OBC population figure to recommend higher reservation for them. It also objected to the petitioner bringing up the issue of reservation for employment in the private sector saying "there is no policy decision as yet in regard to reservation" in private sector jobs. Such a policy has never even been formally proposed by the government, it added.

On National Sample Survey Organisation data on caste and class compositions of the population, the Centre said the petitioner has miscalculated the figures drawn by NSSO from its sample survey and misjudged the impact of the survey data quoted by him. "The NSSO data was not for the purposes of head count of different caste or class populations and they cannot therefore be relied upon to challenge any policy of reservation under consideration by the Central Government," the affidavit said.

However, the Centre said that by studying the need for and the implications of the reservation policy it was merely discharging its duty to ensure action providing for legitimate and long-delayed rights of the SEBCs/ OBCs, of whom an integral part are the SEBCs/ OBCs belonging to religious minorities.

"Such measures are designed to eliminate existing and continuing discrimination, to remedy the continuing effects of past discrimination and to create systems and procedures to prevent future discrimination," it said.

The affidavit said "any reservation policy formulated by the Central Government will ensure that only members of castes/communities identified as socially and educationally backward classes derive benefit from such a policy regardless of religious faith."

It said "the terms 'caste' and 'class' are employed interchangeably in keeping with the well-settled principle that caste itself is a valid classification for reservation." The Centre denied that existing universities cannot take the burden of the increased intake in one go or that quality of education would suffer. The Oversight Committee set up by the Government would suggest ways and means to implement reservation in higher educational institutions under Article 15(5) of the Constiution.

IIM-B seeks 3 years to put quota in force

July 27, 2006 12:24 IST

The Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, has expressed inability to implement the reservation policy at one go, even if the Union HRD ministry issues an order to the effect this year.

IIM-B Director Prakash G Apte,after a board-of-directors meeting on Wednesday, told reporters the institute required at least three years to implement the quota.

"The lack of adequate infrastructure and faculty are hurdles in implementing quota from the next academic year. Unless we enhance facilities, quota implementation will not be possible at one go. We have already conveyed our decision to the Centre," he added.

The meeting, chaired by Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, discussed plans for improving IIM-B's infrastructure.

"IIM-B's intake is 240. If we implement the quota policy, there will be 54 per cent increase in seats. We do not have the necessary faculty or infrastructure to service that," he pointed out.

IIM-B is in favour of a split campus to implement the quota. "According to our estimates, we require 15 acres of land for a new campus (classrooms, accommodation for students and faculty). Since land is not available in the vicinity, we have to go at least 10 km down the road. The cost of expansion (infrastructure and additional faculty) will be around Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million), excluding the cost of land. Since we do not have any internal resources, the government has to fund the expansion," Apte explained.

Against sanctioned faculty strength of 89, IIM-B has 73 faculty members. "We already have a shortage of 16 faculty members. The faculty requirement will go up to 110 if we implement the quota policy. To attract faculty, we have to enhance their compensation. A final decision on expansion will be taken at the next board meeting in October," he stated.

Apte noted the meeting did not discuss the proposal to set up a campus in Singapore.

"The committee, set up to look into the matter, has not submitted its report. Hopefully, the report should reach us by the next board meeting," he said.

CII panel rejects job quota is private sector



July 27, 2006 18:07 IST

Outlining the affirmative action that it was willing to take for empowering the socially underprivileged, captains of Indian industry have submitted a plan of action to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, but opposed any law to impose job quotas in the private sector.

CII president R Seshasayee, Assocham president Anil Agarwal, and J J Irani, who chaired a CII-appointed panel on job reservations in the private sector, submitted the Irani Committee Report that opposed 'curtailment of freedom of employers' in the matter of employment.

Asked about the response of the prime minister, Seshasayee said: "We submitted the report yesterday (on Wednesday). Details of this and interaction with prime minister will be disclosed tomorrow (on Friday)."

SC: No reservation without qualification



July 28, 2006 19:48 IST

The Supreme Court has held that benefit of reservations can not be extended to those not fufilling minimum qualifications for the post as laid down by the Constitution of India.

The ruling handed down by a bench comprising Justices S B Sinha and P P Naolekar on Thursday said that even a chief minister or principal secretary, labour did not have any authority to make any relaxation in the minimum eligibility conditions.

While setting aside the Allahabad high court judgment dated May 22, 2000 dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellant R S Garg challenging the promotion granted to respondent Bharti to the post of deputy director of factories (administration) from reserved category of SC/STs, the apex court imposed a total cost of Rs. 50,000 on the respondents which include state of Uttar Pradesh and others to be paid to the appellant as cost of litigation throughout.

Both the appellant and respondent were appointed as assistant directors of factories on January 3, 1972 and January 17, 1987 respectively. The appellant who was appointed through the Public Service Commission was confirmed on May 13, 1978 while Bharti was regularised without going through the selection process as per 1992 rules.

Oversight Committee submits interim report to PM


NEW DELHI, JUL 28 (PTI)
Aimed at pushing the process of reservation in elite educatioal institutions to be put in place by next academic year, the Oversight Committee set up to prepare a roadmap for the purpose today submitted its interim report to Prime Minister's Office.

Facing diverse pulls and pressures, the Committee, headed by former Karnataka Chief Minister Veerappa Moily appeared to have skirted in its interim report the issue of whether to implement the policy in one go or in a staggered manner from next academic year.

Noting that a number of advance actions were to be taken if reservation was to impleted from the next academic year, Moily had said earlier that there should be empowerment committee in each institute having the powers to implement financial and administrative decisions with regard to the infrastructure, faculty and other things.

Government set up five sub-groups on technological and engineering institutions, management institutions, Central universities, medical and agricultural institutes to provide inputs to the Committee to go ahead with its gigantic task of creating the infrastructure for reservation.

The Committee had decided to give the Interim Report in view of the keenness of the government to implement reservation in the next academic year.

A copy of the report was also submitted to HRD Ministry and other ministries, an official release said.

Admitting that there were limitations at present, Moily said efforts would have to be made for 54 per cent expansion in seats in the institutions in order to ensure 27 per cent reservation for OBCs and at the same time maintain the quality of the elite institutions.

He had said earlier that the Committee had asked for a detailed project from each Institute in order to implement the policy.

The presentation of the interim report comes in the backdrop of reports from elite institutions like IITs and IIMs favouring implementation in phases in view of paucity of infrastructure facilities.

IIM-B Director Prakash G Apte had recently said that a "minimum of three yers" or probably four years were needed to implement the policy.

Apte had said "some IIMs need three years and some others four to five years (to implement the quota).

Forcing quotas will be counter productive: Industry


CHENNAI, JULY 27 (PTI)
Reiterating their opposition to any forcible imposition of job reservation in private sector, industry leaders today warned that such a move by the government would be counter productive.

"It (job reservation in private sector) has to be voluntary, but not forced. If the industry was forced to do so, it would be counter productive," CII President R Seshasayee said while releasing the JJ Irani Committee report on affirmative action that the industry was willing to take for greater inclusiveness of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Stating that job reservation by industry cannot be the complete solution, he said it was, however, playing its role in the uplift of SCs and STs.

He said CII and Assocham had prepared the report -- Proposed Concrete Steps by Indian Industry on Affirmative Action for SCs/STs -- keeping in mind that the industry played its part while furthering its competitiveness and not eroding it.

The report stated: "The private sector industry is against any legislation that would compromise the sanctity of its non-negotiable freedom of choice in employment".

Outlining the proposals in the report, Irani said the industry would endeavour to reflect greater representation of SCs and STs in new recruitments at all levels and "expects its efforts to become visible within next year".

According to the report, besides adopting a code of conduct, the industry will create 100 entrepreneurs from SCs/STs in the first year.

It also proposes establishment of coaching centres for about 10,000 SC/ST students in 10 universities and also for entrance exams in professional and technical courses for 5,000 students.

OBC quota issue: PM faces tightrope walk


NEW DELHI, JULY 30 (PTI)
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh faces a tightrope walk on the OBC quota issue in the wake of Moily committee's wide ranging recommendations obliquely suggesting a staggered implemention of reservation in higher educational institutions.

This is because the Prime Minister has to decide fast on the interim report of the Oversight Committee whose recommendations are likely to be taken into consideration while framing a Bill on quota.

The government has already made it clear that the Bill would be introduced during the current session of Parliament and a draft legislation is under preparation.

Backed by strong supports from Left parties and key allies like DMK and PMK, Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh was keen on implementing the process in one go from the next academic year.

However, the Oversight Committee in its interim report, presented to the Prime Minister, is understood to have given strong indications suggesting that it could be possible in phases in view of certain issues and constraints expressed by institutions through the five sub-groups.

The timeframe for implementation of quotas and the possibility of sudden expansion "leading to loss of merit and excellence," was some of the issues raised by institutions.

IIM, Bangalore has recently said that the OBC quota increase will require at least three years for implementation as well as Central assistance through increased funding.

The Oversight Committee proposed to addess the practical constraints institution-wise on receipt of group's final reports, sources said.

When contacted, Moily declined to comment on the Interim report except saying that he wanted the Prime Minister and the HRD Minister to go through the report first before making it public.

The new reservation process which will cover all Central and elite institutions like IITs and IIMs are to be accompanied with a 54 per cent expansion in order to ensure 27 per cent quota for OBCs.

Besides recommending a liberal financial package for the expansion plan, the committee is also understood to have suggested liberalising the retirement age of faculty, re-employment of retired faculty, flexibility to decide upon the compensation package of faculty , more shifts to hold classes and more scholarships to the needy and poor studens, sources said.

The interim report says that the issue of 'creamy layer' would be dealt with in its final report which is expected by August 31.

IITs, IIMs alone must set admission norms: panel



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August 01, 2006 18:57 IST

The Oversight Committee has recommended that the criteria for admissions in Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management should be determined by the institutions alone to maintain their excellence, sending a clear signal that reservation for OBCs (Other Backward Classes) in elite educational institutions might not be implemented at one go.

"The committee recognises that those institutions of higher learning which have established a global reputation (e.g. IITs, IIMs, Indian Institute of Science, All India Institute of Medical Sciences and other such exceptional quality institutions) can only be maintained if the highest quality in both faculty and students in ensured," it said in its interim report.

Observing that the trio of "expansion, inclusion and excellence" was the moving spirit behind the new reservation policy, the panel headed by former Karnataka chief minister Veerappa Moily said in its report that institutions of higher learning should keep these principles in mind while determining the threshold marks for admitting OBC students.

While expanding intake, care should be taken to ensure that capacities are expanded in subjects or areas in which there are employment opportunities, said the report that was presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently.

The Committee, however, left the issue of a creamy layer for its final report, which will be presented by August 31.

There was certainly a case for increasing Plan and budgetary allocations for the higher education sector and it was felt that the additional resources to be generated to give effect to the policy decision on reservations should not be a one-time affair, the panel said.

Strongly advocating that students who currently tend to get excluded, must be given every opportunity to raise their own levels of attainment, it said, "The government should invest heavily in creating powerful, well designed and executed remedial preparatory measures to achieve this objective fully."

A mechanism for funding higher education through loans and scholarships would have to be looked at for economically disadvantaged students, it said.

The report said certain administrative and financial powers have to be delegated to the institutions of higher learning to give effect to the decision to expand student capacity by 54 per cent within a limited timeframe.

To overcome the shortage of faculty in these institutions, the committee suggested the raising of the age of superannuation to 65 years across the board, and engaging retiring faculty on three-year contracts that will be extendable up to the age of 70 years.

Other recommendations include engaging visiting or adjunct faculty on attractive terms, and assigning additional workload to existing faculty within reasonable limits so that there is no dilution and amendment in eligibility criteria for faculty recruitment.

The committee also recommended the setting up of an empowered committee in each institution and asked the human resource development ministry to give necessary approvals and sanctions on infrastructural and developmental issues.