By IANS
New Delhi : In a serious blow to the central government, the Supreme Court Wednesday rejected its last-ditch plea for revival of quotas for other backward classes (OBC) in higher educational institutions.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan refused to revoke the freeze on the law for quotas saying the central government had not given any new reason for the court to revoke its March 29 interim order suspending the law.
The bench, which included Justices Arijit Pasayat, R.V. Raveendran, C.K. Thakkar and Dalveer Bhandari, stated that the government would in any case not be able to implement reservations for OBC students in all centrally funded educational institutions as it was yet to develop the requisite infrastructure to do so.
It said that implementing the 27 percent reservation in a few educational institutions because of lack of infrastructure would be tantamount to discrimination.
During the hearing on the government’s latest plea to revoke the March 29 freeze on the quota law, Solicitor General G.E. Vahanavati conceded Tuesday that the government was yet to take the mandatory approvals from the Medical Council of India and the Dental Council of India to increase the seats in the medical and dental colleges of the country.
Similarly, Vahanavati conceded, the government was yet to take any approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to increase the seat in the engineering colleges run by it.
In the absence of these approvals, the government could have increased seats only in management institutions to admit students on the basis of quotas.
After Vahanavati acceded to the arguments put forth by senior counsel Harish Salve opposing the reservation, the balance tilted in favour of the continued suspension of the quota law for the academic session 2007-08.
The bench, after refusing to accede to the government’s plea to revoke its freeze on the quota law, resumed its marathon hearing on the examination of the Constitution (93rd Amendment) act and the entailing legislation passed on its basis.
The legislation, the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, provides for 27 percent reservation to OBC students in centrally funded educational institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Management.
The marathon hearing aimed at deeper scrutiny of the quota laws, which began Tuesday, is likely to continue for nearly three weeks. The court will hear the matter every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.