BHOPAL: Former chief minister and LOP Kamal Nath on Friday demanded that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government start implementation of increased 27% reservation for OBCs with immediate effect, except for departments where the matter is sub-judice. On Thursday, the advocate general specified that Madhya Pradesh High Court has not restricted the state government from implementing 27% reservation for OBCs.
The Madhya Pradesh cabinet of the erstwhile Kamal Nath Congress government on March 8, 2019 increased reservation of OBCs from 14% to 27% through an Ordinance. This took total reservations in the state to 73% (including 10% reservations for economically backward classes), breaking the 50% limit of caste-based reservations.
“For the uplift of OBCs, our government had increased reservations from 14% to 27%,” Kamal Nath tweeted on Friday. “Some petitions were filed regarding this in the court, interim order was given on those but there was no restriction in any other places,” he claimed.
PCC chief Kamal Nath argued that on the basis of a wrong legal opinion, the BJP government did not implement the increased reservation quota of OBCs in government jobs and educational institutions.
“Based on a wrong opinion given on this order, the Shivraj government stopped appointments in all other departments by which the backward classes were continuously being deprived of their rights,” @OfficeOfKNath said. “False claims were being served continuously. We were protesting against that.”
Referring to the views of the advocate general, the senior Congress leader said, “Now government has accepted on the basis of an opinion that there is no restriction on the decision made by our government to increase reservations to 27% in the state. Apart from departments connected to the interim order, benefit of increased reservation in government jobs and educational institutions can be given.”
The veteran Congress leader not only asked for implementation of the 27% reservation for OBCs with immediate effect but also recommended that the case of OBCs be argued strongly in the courts. “I demand from the Shivraj government that after this view, he should discard the politics of falsehood and misleading facts, and immediately issue a revised order to give the benefit of increased reservation in government appointments and educational institutions. The decision taken by our government in the interest of backward classes should be implemented immediately and strongly support the case of OBCs during the hearing of the petitions,” Nath said.
