The Cabinet discussed the situation arising out of the Governor's move and felt that there was no other go except to obtain the opinion of the President on the ordinance.

The Cabinet also took note of similar views expressed by an all-party meeting convened by the Chief Minister earlier in the day.

However, barring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI), other Opposition parties kept away from the meeting.

The Cabinet decided to send the ordinance to the Central Government in a day or two after due formalities and go ahead with the admissions to various professional courses under SC quota without waiting for categorisation.

The Congress and the CPM felt there was no need of an all-party meeting on the issue at this stage. The BJP and CPIadvised the Government to follow the Governor's decision to obtain the President's consent on the ordinance.

Briefing mediapersons later, Naidu said that though the Cabinet still held the view that the State was fully empowered to promulgate an ordinance on the categorisation, it was decided to refer it to the President's opinion in deference to the decision taken by the Governor.

``We still believe that we (the Cabinet) have powers to issue the ordinance, but now that the Governor has taken a decision to refer it to the President, we too agreed to follow the course,'' the Chief Minister said. He refused to comment on the stand taken by the Governor.

While sending back the ordinance to the State Government, the Governor said it was appropriate and necessary to obtain the opinion of the President on the matter to clarify doubts on legal, legislative and administrative aspects of the categorisation issue.

The Governor wanted to know whether the State Government was competent to take a decision on thecategorisation and whether the matter falls under the purview of the Parliament under Article 341 of the Constitution.

In his message to the State Government, Rangarajan also mentioned the conflicting judgments by the High Courts of Punjab and Haryana and Andhra Pradesh on categorising the SCs.

While the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the Punjab Government's decision in 1979 to earmark 50 per of the SC quota to Balmikis and Mazbisikhs, AP High Court struck down the State Government's move to categorise the SCs into four groups for the purpose of reservations.

Naidu said that as per the procedure, the Union Cabinet would look into the matter before forwarding the ordinance to the President for his consideration. He refused to speculate by when the ordinance would be cleared by the President. ``It depends on many things,'' he said.When asked whether the State can send back the ordinance to the Governor for a second time, the Chief Minister said that would have been an option only in case theGovernor sent back the ordinance to the Government. ``But, now he (Governor) only wanted to obtain the President's opinion,'' he explained.