BHUBANESWAR: A day after passing a Bill to cap reservations for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes at 50 per cent, the State Government on Thursday passed a resolution urging the Centre to remove the ceiling to provide 27 per cent reservation to OBCs.
The resolution moved by SC & ST Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare Minister Jagannath Saraka on the last day of the monsoon session also requested the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes to take up the issue of caste-based census in the State with the Central government.
The House will now send the resolution to the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes for onward transmission to the Centre. Moving the resolution amid Opposition ruckus in the House, the Minister said the State government is unable to provide 27 per cent reservation to OBCs/SEBCs in government jobs and educational institutions due to the 50 per cent ceiling.
Since the law enacted by the State government to provide SEBCs their due reservation has been rejected by the Orissa High Court and the Supreme Court on the grounds that the State has no quantifiable data on the backward classes, there is a need for caste census, the resolution said.
Odisha Assembly passes resolution on caste census
The Chief Secretary of the State had written to the Union Cabinet Secretary based on the resolution passed by the State Cabinet requesting for keeping a separate column in the census document. However, the demand was rejected by the Centre.
Attacking the government over the caste-based census and removal of 50 per cent cap on quotas, BJP MLA Mukesh Mahaling said that it is merely a tactic to hoodwink the OBCs of the State. “Before conducting the caste-based census, the State government must provide reservation of 11.25 per cent to OBCs in education,” he said.
Leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Narasingh Mishra described the resolution as undesirable and illegal. Mishra, however, said that Congress supports caste-based census and agrees that the OBCs should get more reservation.