Following the Supreme Court's observation on the OBC quota in the NEET case, senior Congress leader and former union minister P Chidambaram on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to read the "lucid analysis" in the judgment of the apex court.
Taking to Twitter, Chidambaram said, "PM said focusing on rights has made India weak. That is the language of the section that has historically enjoyed rights. Will the PM spare a thought for the sections that have historically been denied basic rights? PM may kindly read the lucid analysis in the judgment of the SC (Chandrachud and Boppana JJ) in the OBC quota in NEET case delivered yesterday."
The Supreme Court on Thursday, January 20, said that merit should be socially contextualised and reconceptualised as an instrument that advances social goods that society values like equality.
In a detailed order issued on Thursday, a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna said, "High scores in examination are not a proxy for merit. Merit should be socially contextualised and reconceptualised as an instrument that advances social goods like equality that we as a society value. In such a context, reservation is not at odds with merit but furthers its distributive consequences."
The top court said "merit cannot be reduced to narrow definitions of performance in an open competitive examination which only provides formal equality of opportunity" while upholding the constitutional validity of reservations for the Other Backward Classes and the Economically Weaker Section in the All-India Quota in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test examination.
