NDA government defends Jats in Central list of OBCs

NEW DELHI: The Modi government on Thursday defended in the Supreme Court the UPA II's decision to include Jats in the Central list of OBCs. The erstwhile government had announced the inclusion ahead of the general elections, prompting a spate of litigations in the top court accusing it of political mala fide.

“Can it be that a backward person in a state can’t apply for a small central government post in his area,” Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi told a bench, comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and RF Nariman, during the course of arguments on Thursday in the first public position taken by the Modi government on the issue. “That would be incongruous.”

“A backward person in the state is a backward person in the Centre as well. Backwardness can’t vary. It cannot have two connotations. SCs and STs can apply in both. You can’t create a dichotomy for the OBCs. How will that work?” This is a federal structure, he said. “From 1604, the states have done, the Centre has followed.

It is not possible to decide on the basis of different parameters. All the (existing) parameters lead us to the states,” he said. UPA II had on March 4, 2014, amended the central OBC list to include Jats from nine states including Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana.