Government likely to move Supreme Court against order on Jat quota

NEW DELHI: Seeking a review of its ruling quashing Jat quota, the government is likely to move the Supreme Court as the order has forced UPSC to put on hold the final results of the Civil Services (Mains) Examination.

Top officials of the ministries of Home, Personnel, Law, and Social Justice and Empowerment are deliberating on framing the government's next course of action in the wake of the apex court order.

The move was initiated after a delegation of Jat leaders met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday over quashing of OBC reservation for the community.

"A decision on filing the review petition will be taken soon," a government official said.

The Jat leaders are seeking a review of the Supreme Court decision of March 17 quashing a notification of the UPA government extending reservations to the community in nine states.

The BJP government in Haryana has openly come out in support of job quotas for Jats.

The civil services examination results, sources said, should have been out had it not been for the March 17 order.

These will now be declared only after the government answers UPSC's queries on its implications for Jat candidates taking the mains exam.

Though the UPSC was ready with the results, the apex court ruling scrapping reservation for Jats under the OBC category has forced it to seek a clarification from the government.

Setting aside the notification extending OBC status to Jats, the Supreme Court slammed the Centre's decision to overlook the finding of an OBC panel that Jats were not a backward class.

"Caste, though a prominent factor, cannot be the sole factor of determining the backwardness of a class," the court had said, while referring to the historic judgement rendered by a larger bench on the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations on OBC reservations.