The SC on Tuesday sought explanation from the Centre for ignoring the advice of a statutory body to keep Jats away from reservation benefits.
The court said the matter was serious and it would like to peruse the files containing the materials to know whether there was application of mind or not for coming out with the March 4 notification to include the Jat community in the OBC list. “The respondent (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment) is directed to place records and files with regard of this decision,” a Bench comprising Chief Justice P Sathasivam, Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice N V Ramana said while issuing a notice and seeking response from the Centre on the two petitions challenging the notification to include Jats in the OBC list and posted the matter for a hearing on April 9.
The court said it would consider the plea for stay of the notification after examining the materials and also sought the assistance of Attorney General G E Vahanvati. The notification included the Jat community in OBC list in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, MP, Delhi, Rajasthan (two districts of Bharatpur and Dholpur), UP, and U’khand. Senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for OBC Reservation Raksha Samiti, an organisation of members of Communities included in the Central list of Backward Classes, alleged that it was an outrageous notification issued with vote-bank politics in mind. “Before the polls, largesse is given by the political party in power to purchase votes,” Venugopal elaborated on how “illegal and arbitrarily” the Union govt ignored National Commission for Backward Classes advice, which is binding on it to include the Jats in the list.