Government may move Supreme Court against ruling on Jat quota

NEW DELHI: The government is likely to move the Supreme Court seeking review of the order quashing Jat quota, which has prompted Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to put on hold the announcement of Civil Services (Mains) Examination results.

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

The move came a day after a delegation of Jat leaders met Prime Minister Narendra Modi over quashing of OBC reservation for the community.

"A decision on filing the review petition will be taken next week," 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.

It 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 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 Jat was 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.