The Supreme Court is all set to take up the batch of petitions, challenging the Constitutional validity of the statute that provides 27 per cent reservation for OBC’s in higher educational institutes, for hearing tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan today issued notice to the Central Government on a petition filed by Pan-IIM Alumni Association which has also challenged reservation in “institutes of higher excellence” like IIMs and IITs. According to Section 4 (B) of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2007 itself, quotas would not apply to the institutes of excellence specified in the Act. “This should have been reason enough to keep the IITs and IIMs out of the purview of the present statute,” the petitioner association stated. It is the caste-based reservation policy which is unconstitutional, the petition added.

Tomorrow, the Government will present its case before the Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and L S Panta, which on March 29 in an interim order had stayed the implementation of the statute for the current academic session and subsequently had dismissed the Centre’s application seeking the modification of that order.

However, the Government failing to get the nod for pushing the reservations for OBC’s finally managed to get the matter advanced by mentioning it before the Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, who advanced the hearing from third week of August to May 8.

The CJI had accepted the Centre’s request for early hearing, saying it was his prerogative and privilege to decide which matter was to be heard on priority. Meanwhile, like RJD, the PMK, another alliance partner in UPA, supported the 27 per cent quota and filed an application, seeking to be made party in the matter, supporting the Centre’s stance on the issue.

... contd.