Commission working on 10.5% quota for Vanniyars need 6 more months: CM Stalin
The demand for grants for the department of Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare was taken up for discussion on Thursday in the ongoing assembly
Tamil Nadu’s backward classes commission has sought six extra months’ time to submit a report regarding the 10.5% internal reservation for the Vanniyar community, chief minister MK Stalin said on Thursday in the state assembly.
“The DMK government went up to the Supreme Court to fight this case. Now, based on the commission’s request, the time to submit a report has been extended,” the chief minister said.
The demand for grants for the department of Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare was taken up for discussion on Thursday in the ongoing assembly.
The chief minister was responding to the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), a caste-based Vanniyar party in alliance with the principal opposition AIADMK, who blamed the ruling DMK for giving the commission more time.
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PMK floor leader GK Mani said that a six-month time period will put the Vanniyar community at a disadvantage ahead of the next academic year.
PMK’s founder S Ramadoss in a statement demanded that the chief minister enact a new legislation of providing a 10.5% reservation for Vanniyars by May 31 ahead of admission for the next academic year.
The law carving out 10.5% internal reservation for Vanniyars from within the 20% reservation for the Most Backward Classes (MBCs) in Tamil Nadu was introduced by the AIADMK on 26 February 2021 just hours before the model code of conduct came into effect for the 2021 assembly elections.
The 10.5% internal quota was applicable in public education and employment.
After the DMK formed the government in May 2021, they issued a government order in June to fully implement the reservation following which 35 petitioners from various castes in MBCs, challenged it in the Madras high court, arguing that the 10.5% internal reservation will leave little for the 115 other castes under the MBCs.
In November 2021, the Madras HC held that the quota is unconstitutional.
The DMK-led Tamil Nadu government, PMK and several others had filed appeals against the high court order in the Supreme Court.
Last March, the Supreme Court upheld the Madras HC verdict and struck down this law saying that caste alone cannot be the exclusive basis to grant quota within a reserved category.
“Everyone is aware about how the previous AIADMK government hastily brought this law only for political reasons without appropriate data, so it was quashed,” Stalin said.
Since it was rejected by the top court and the high court, the PMK has been demanding that the DMK enact a new law after conducting a caste-based census.
On Wednesday, the PMK legislators had walked out of the assembly on this matter after the speaker M Appavu refused to let them speak on it saying that it could be discussed on Thursday since the commission’s department was coming up for discussion.
