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DMK moves HC against 10% reservation for poor

CHENNAI:The DMK moved the Madras High Court today challenging the Central Government’s decision to provide 10 per cent reservation in employment and education to the economically weaker section in the general category, saying it “offends” the basic structure of the Constitution.

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Chennai, January 18

The DMK moved the Madras High Court today challenging the Central Government’s decision to provide 10 per cent reservation in employment and education to the economically weaker section in the general category, saying it “offends” the basic structure of the Constitution.

The party claimed in its plea that reservation was not a poverty alleviation programme but more in the nature of social justice to uplift communities that hadn’t had access to education or employment for centuries.

“Therefore, essentially, the exception to the equality clause is only available to those communities which were ostracised for centuries in matters of education and employment. Economic criteria has been, however, used as a filter to exclude the creamy layer, persons belonging to the backward classes but who are economically advanced,” DMK organising secretary RS Bharathi said in the petition.

“Hence, application of economic criteria solely is not contemplated as an exception to the rule of equality and consequently to provide reservation solely on economic criteria offends the basic structure of the Constitution,” he added.

The petitioner said: “It is well settled that the ceiling limit of 50 per cent in reservation is also part of the basic structure and has been asserted by the SC in several cases.

“However, in Tamil Nadu, the ceiling limit is 69 per cent... under the State) Act, 1993 which is placed in the IX Schedule,” he further submitted. Legislations placed in the IX Schedule of the Constitution cannot be legally challenged. — PTI


It’s unconstitutional

The concept of reservation is not with reference to economic status but the community to which a person belongs to… this (10 per cent) reservation violates the basic structure of the Constitution. — RS Bharathi, DMK Organising Secretary

UP third to give nod 

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh on Friday became the third state after Gujarat and Jharkhand to approve the Central law of 10 per cent reservation for the poor among the upper caste on Friday. The UP Cabinet decided that reservation would apply in government jobs and educational institutions with retrospective effect from January 14, 2019. tns

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