09 Mar, 2013 09:49 PM

Govt. non committal on reservation in promotions for the OBCs

The government on issue of reservation in promotions for the OBCs remained non committal. The Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Shri V. Narayanasamy, while replying to Lok Sabha to the query whether the Government is considering to provide reservation in promotion for OBCs and backward minorities on ground of their backwardness skipped direct answer ad quoted some earlier recommendations by different committees.

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The Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law & Justice in its report in the year 2005, while examining the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Reservation in Posts and Services), Bill 2004, in its report on the issue of whether OBCs should be given reservation in promotions like SCs/ STs, observed that to meet the constitutional obligation to provide adequate representation to these classes, Government should consider extending reservation to the members of other backward classes in promotions also and bring an amendment to the Constitution to give effect to this proposal.

The Group of Ministers on the Bill considered the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Personnel and felt that the condition of OBCs is very different from that of the SCs/STs both in terms of Constitutional provisions as well as ground realities.

Earlier, during the Winter Session of Parliament, SP had raised the issue of providing reservation for OBCs – its core vote base – and Muslims in government job promotions on the lines of a bill which gives such benefits to SCs and STs. The DMK chief M Karunanidhi had supported the demand for "promotion quota" for OBCs on par with the one proposed for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, other chieftains like Lalu Prasad and N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday threw their weight behind the fresh quota clamour.