BHUBANESWAR: The Opposition BJP and Congress on Thursday, December 23, 2021, slammed the State government for its failure to present the case before the Orissa High Court in the matter of reservation for the sizeable backward class citizens of the State.
The saffron party which was strongly opposed to the draft notification on reservation of seats in the three-tier Panchayati Raj institutions said it was another conspiracy of the BJD government not to provide reservation to the other backward classes (OBCs) and this was exposed by the High Court which refused to oblige.
“All along, the ruling BJD has been misleading the people in general and the OBCs in particular by showing fake concern for a vast majority of the population. While assuring 27 per cent (pc) reservation to the OBCs, the government limited the quota at about 13 pc in the draft notification,” alleged BJP State OBC Morcha president Surath Biswal.
The State government amended relevant provisions of the Odisha Gram Panchayat Act-1964, Odisha Panchayat Samiti Act-1959 and Odisha Zilla Parishad Act-1991 to keep the upper ceiling of reservation of seats for SCs, STs and OBCs at 50 pc. At the time of passing the three amended Bills in the monsoon session of the Assembly, the Panchayati Raj and Law Minister Pratap Jena had said, “As per Article 243-D of the Constitution, the State government has the discretion of reserving seats for OBCs and accordingly, the three laws were amended to reserve seats for them not exceeding 27 pc subject to limit of 50 pc of total number of seats in panchayats, panchayat samitis and zilla parishads.”
After rejection of the draft notification of the State government by the High Court, it is now for everyone to see what discretion the BJD government has for reservation of seats for the OBCs, Biswal remarked.
As the Court rejected the submission of the State government for want of empirical data on the OBCs, Biswal questioned what prevented the government from collecting data on the OBCs in the last two decades.
Congress OBC Cell president Gyana Beura said that it has been almost two years since the constitution of the State Commission for Backward Classes which could have done the survey for submission of quantifiable data to the Court. But the government has no such intention for its apathy to the OBCs,” he added.
Voicing similar concern, State unit president of Samajwadi Party Rabi Behera said the BJP at the Centre and the BJD in the State are only giving lip service for the OBCs but both the parties do not want reservation for the backward classes.