‘Any serious application of mind behind Jat quota?’ S C asks Centre
NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre on a politically-loaded move to grant reservations to the Jat community in jobs and education just before the announcement of the national election last month.
“This seems to be a serious matter and we want to know if serious application of mind went into it,” the court today said. The Centre has been asked to respond by April 9, and justify the move reportedly pushed by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.A group, the OBC Reservation Raksha Samiti, had petitioned that the quota was illegal as it had repeatedly been opposed by the National Commission for Backward Classes.
Quota for Jats is seen as the Congress’ attempt to improve its prospects in nine states where the community has a strong presence – Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Bihar. Congress leaders have assessed that over eight crore Jats in these states can be the deciding factor in at least 30 Lok Sabha constituencies.The National Commission for Backward Classes had opposed a quota for Jats on grounds that the community cannot be classified as “backward.”
