States want creamy layer out of OBC quota

NEW DELHI: State governments have demanded exclusion of the creamy layer of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) from the proposed reservation in unaided deemed universities. The plea was made during consultations between the central government and chief ministers and education ministers of states on Thursday, to build a consensus on the issue.

The Centre was represented by defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, human resource development minister Arjun Singh and finance minister P Chidambaram.

The consultation with the states is being held in two batches. In the first round, the central ministers met representatives of 15 states — Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Goa and Sikkim.

Even as the states welcomed the consultation, they demanded exclusion of creamy layer of the OBC from the purview of reservation. Instead, they wanted priority to be given to those members of the OBC who were both socially and economically backward. The creamy layer would be considered only if there was any vacancy in the reservation quota.

The legislation proposed by the Centre would increase the quantum of reservation to 49.5%. The states governments want a provision in the legislation that would allow states to make changes in the reservation percentage based on local priorities.

The meeting also saw Left-ruled Kerala joining forces with BJP-ruled states to demand inclusion of minority institutions in the proposed bill. There was unanimity among the states over a Fee Regulatory Authority for such institutions at the state level and not at Central level , sources said.

BJP-ruled Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan urged the Centre to include in the law institutions coming under the sixth schedule — like those in north-eastern states — as well as education bodies run by linguistic minorities.

A decision on the bill introducing the new reservation regime in unaided deemed to be universities was deferred by the Cabinet in August.

“We were of the opinion that minority institutions, institutions in the areas under the sixth schedule and institutions run by linguistic minorities should also form part of the purview of the bill,” Chhattisgarh higher education minister Ajay Chandrakar said.

Consultations on a legislation outlining the new reservation regime — extending reservation to OBCs, keeping out minority institutions and the north-eastern states — had begun in January. The HRD ministry consulted state education ministers at a meeting in Bangalore in January.

Following the meeting, the HRD ministry had prepared a comprehensive bill to usher in the new reservation regime in education institutions in the country. The unaided deemed to be universities were included in The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Bill, 2006, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August.