Exactly a year ago, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh had forced the issue in his party and the government by floating the proposal of OBC quotas in higher educational institutions at the sidelines of an NCERT function. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was said to have been in favour of a more calibrated and nuanced approach, something which the Supreme Court prescribed today. But with the apex court’s stay on the new law, the options before his Government are limited.

While HRD Ministry officials were in a huddle until late tonight, official sources told The Indian Express that the Prime Minister is not in favour of a head-on confrontation with the judiciary. But with the crucial UP polls just days away, the Government also needs to be seen as pro-actively responding to the SC’s rebuff.

Sources involved in discussions said the government will most likely approach the Court either for vacation of the stay or a review/modification of the stay order. Before that, the government, it is learnt, is most likely to go to the Cabinet and possibly call an all-party meeting, a demand already raised by some political parties today.

The legal argument the Government is working on is that the interim order is a “constitutional challenge” as a two-judge bench, by staying a Constitutional amendment, has over-ruled the nine-judge bench order in the landmark Indira Sawhney case.

Some of the key points that the Government is likely to raise while asking for a review or a vacation of the stay:

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