CHENNAI: Acting on the liberty made known by the Supreme Court to the political parties of Tamil Nadu on Thursday, the DMK filed a writ petition before Madras High Court, seeking 50 per cent reservation for OBC in the matter of admission of students belonging to the OBC community in medical and dental courses under the State-surrendered seats in All India Quota. After observing that reservation is not a fundamental right, a bench of the apex court, directed the parties to approach the Madras HC with its plea.
Accordingly, DMK press relations officer TKS Elangovan filed a writ petition on Thursday.Meanwhile, General Secretary of Doctors’ Association for Social Equality (DASE) GR Ravindranath opposed the apex court’s refusal to grant 50 per cent reservation for OBCs in medical colleges, stating that 27 per cent of reservations should initially be implemented, adding the 27 per cent of all India quota should have been implemented in 2008 itself.
K Veeramani, president of DK, said Supreme Court’s observation was only an interpretation. On interpretations to the constitutional provisions, Veeramani pointed to an excerpt in the report of Havanur, who headed the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission. “Havanur said that language of the Constitution insofar as it relates to backward classes, is simple and unambiguous. But the language of the Judiciary in interpreting the Constitutional provisions is highly ambiguous and complicated.”
G Karunanidhy, general secretary of the All India OBC Federation said, “Reservation is indeed a constitutional right which was guaranteed under various provisions. In fact, those provisions were earlier upheld by the apex court on various occasions.”
K Thirunavukkarasu, historian of Dravidian Movement said, “It is unfortunate that the SC has shirked its responsibility to give a clear cut answer. They just passed the responsibility to the State courts. Social justice is not a concession. It is a birthright of the backward and oppressed classes.”
VCK general secretary D Ravikumar pointed out that the question put forth was not whether reservation is a fundamental right or not. It is about the legality of providing reservation to the OBCs. The Centre has given reservation to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) while the same has been denied to OBCs. So, naturally, the question arises whether reservation is a fundamental right for EWS.
CPI state secretary R Muththarasan and CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan expressed shock over the SC and echoed similar view as the aforementioned leaders.