SC spikes Centre’s quota plan

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) can go ahead with the long-delayed announcement of their admission lists. The Supreme Court on Monday said its order staying 27% quota in central educational institutions was final. The apex court dismissed the Centre’s plea to allow the new quota regime, on the ground that the latter has not excluded the creamy layer from the ambit of the quota. This could spark off yet another round of confrontation between quota enthusiasts and the judiciary.

The IIMs were asked by the government to wait for the outcome of the government’s plea for the vacation of stay. The apex court, which criticised the trend in the government to “kick off the game without framing the rules”, said it had failed to make the legislation compatible with the canons of law. “You cannot begin the game without framing the rules. Let the rules be framed first,” a bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and LS Panta said.

The government found the going tough right from the start when the court made it plain that it would not review the earlier order staying the new quota regime, as the government has not heeded the advice to weed out the creamy layer. It said the inclusion of creamy layer would mean “treating unequals as equals”.

The Centre, which tried to project the issue as one that concerns social justice, claimed the stay would deprive the socially and educationally backward of their legitimate share. The court had cited Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s aversion for quota. Nehru believed that “the caste system was the greatest hindrance to the way of our progress.... and recognition of specified castes may serve to maintain and perpetuate the existing distinctions on the basis of caste”. The Centre’s argument that the OBCs have been deprived of their legitimate share for the past 57 years did not impress the court. “If they have waited for 57 years, they could wait for another year,” the court said, and asked the government to determine the validity of the reservation law.

The court said the government cannot selectively quote the Mandal verdict. “If you are depending on the Mandal judgement, you have to take care of the creamy layer aspect as well,” the bench said. After an hour-long hearing, the bench passed a two-line order saying it found no ground in the Centre’s application to review the March 29 order.