By NNN-PTI,
New Delhi : With the Gujjar agitation demanding ST status showing no signs of ending, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil today examined legal aspects of the issue at a high level meeting.
As the Gujjar community was up in arms in Rajasthan state to press its demand, Patil chaired a high-level meeting where he elicited the views of the Law Ministry on the matter.
The meeting also discussed various options to defuse the situation.
Patil was briefed by a senior official of the Law Ministry. National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar and Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta were also present at the meeting, sources said.
A senior official of the Tribal Affairs Ministry also briefed the Home Minister.
Sources said views of states having sizeable Gujjar population were being taken as any decision on according ST status to the community was likely to have wide-ranging ramifications.
They said Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recommending four to six per cent quota for Gujjars in the category of de-notified class of tribals/nomadic tribe was also under consideration.
The Prime Minister’s Office has referred the issue of reservation sought for Gujjars by Raje to the Law Ministry.
Today’s meeting was held in the backdrop of Gujjar agitation taking a violent turn in Rajasthan and affecting areas in neighbouring Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Region.
Over 40 persons have been killed in police firing and violence since the agitation began last week.