The All India OBC Students Association (AIOBCSA) has filed an impleading petition in the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) case on the constitutional validity of EWS reservations.
The five-member Constitutional Bench will take up the constitutional validity of the EWS reservations matter on September 13, 2022, for which, AIOBCSA has also impleaded. Shashank Ratnoo, Supreme Court of India advocate and Legal Advisor to AIOBCSA, has helped the student organisation raise their concerns via this petition.
This impleading petition is AIOBCSA's way to contribute their bit to the fight for OBCs.
When EdexLive got in touch with the President of AIOBCSA, G Kiran Kumar, he shared with us a few critical questions and concerns that they intend to raise regarding the EWS reservations. In the words of Kumar, they are:
1) The OBC reservations were implemented after systematic consultation with the Second Backward Classes Commissions, famously called Mandal Commission. The recommendations were given in 1980 but it had taken 13 years (1993) to implement OBC reservations in the employment domain and 27 years (2007) in higher education institutions.
On the recommendation of which commission or report did the Government of India take the decision to implement 10% reservations for EWS?
2) The Supreme Court of India has kept the cap on the reservations and implemented 27% OBC reservations for OBC, whereas, SCs and STs are getting reservations proportionate to their population. Mandal Commission mentioned that there are 52% OBC population in the country. With the introduction of the EWS reservation, what will happen to the 50% cap on the reservations?
3) The Government of India announced OBC grants to all higher education institutions (HEIs) in 2007 for expanding the strength and capacity of HEIs. Why such grants are not announced when EWS reservations are being implemented?
5) The Government of India must have clear data on the social, educational and also economic backwardness of all castes. Hence, they must conduct a caste census for effective decision-making. Without any data, how can the Government of India convince the judiciary or the public about the EWS reservation policy?