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OBC quota : Efforts on to introduce Bill in Monsoon session

	June 19, 2006

The Oversight Committee monitoring the implementation of the decision on 27 per cent reservation for other backward classes (OBCs) in central educational institutions is to submit an interim report to the Government in the first fortnight of July. This is to enable the Government to take into account the committee’s views while introducing a Bill on OBC reservation in educational institutions in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Committee Chairman Veerappa Moily said the Bill should be introduced only after the committee submitted its report.

In a four-page note circulated to the committee members on June 8, Moily put forward the suggestion : “The government is planning to introduce a Bill in the Monsoon session of Parliament, providing for 27 per cent reservation to OBCs.

Ideally, the Bill should be introduced only after the Oversight Committee submits its report by 31st August, 2006, so that greater clarity is brought to

bear upon the issues.”

However, he adds: “There is also the argument that if the Bill is not introduced in the monsoon session, it might be too late. That being the case, one could think of the Oversight Committee submitting an interim report.”

Later, after a meeting of the Oversight Committee on June 15, Veerappa Moily told newspersons that the interim report would enable the Government to plan administrative measures such as financial sanctions for additional

infrastructure and faculty requirements. He said that

the Committee might give its inputs again after

submitting the interim report to enable the

Government to go ahead with the proposed

legislation. He said the five groups going into various

aspects of the reservation proposal have been asked

to give their inputs by June 30 to enable the

committee to draw up its interim report by July 10.

There are reports that Veerappa Moily is of the

view that from next year, the OBC quotas can be

made applicable in IITs, IIMs and the All India

Institute of Medical Sciences. In Central universities,

the reservation may start from the year 2008.

However, a key member of the Oversight

Committee, Bhalchandra Mungekar has said that

there is no question of staggering the implementation

of reservation. He said the clear cut mandate of the

Oversight Committee is to implement reservations

from the year 2007-08.