Gandhinagar: Soon after quashing of its May 1 ordinance providing for 10% special reservation to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of unreserved category by the Gujarat High Court today, the state government said that it would file an appeal against the judgement in the apex court at the earliest.

Talking to newsmen here, Government spokesperson and health Minister Nitin Patel said that the intention of the government was to assist the weaker sections of the unreserved community. He termed the judgment as unfortunate. He said that the government would file an appeal at the earliest and within the time frame of two weeks given by the High Court.
‘We have said it earlier and BJP state president Vijay Rupani had also said it that we would take the legal battle to the highest court to sustain the 10% quota if the need be. Now we would continue our fight in the apex court. The provision did not disturb the quota of OBC, SC or ST,’ the said.

To a query he said that owing to the court’s judgement the 10% EWS quota would now not be applicable during the ongoing educational session.He however said that benefits of the Mukhyamantri Yuva Swavlamban Yojana would still be there.

To another query he said that no survey was needed for the implementation of the provision as the reservation was not caste based. ‘We had studied the decisions of Rajsthan and Haryana High courts in detail. Any survey would have been required had it been based on caste. It was for all the families of the non reserved categories with up to 6 lakh of annual income,’ he said.

He also said that the main opposition Congress which has incited Patidar community to go for 20% reservation instead of 10 % for political gains has no right to speak anything on the issue now.

Mr. Patel also alleged that the PILs against the government’s ordinance were filed by Congress backed people and organizations.

The Minister, who headed the seven ministers committee for talks on quota demands by various organization including Patidars, also claimed that all the five organization including that of Patidar quota stir leader Hardik Patel and SPG leader Lalji Patel had also sought reservation on the basis of economic grounds. ‘The letters they had written to the government have this in them.

The state government had issued the ordinance on May 1 this year on the occasion of the foundation day of Gujarat.
The High court which had reserved its verdict earlier today in its judgment held the ordinance and provision of 10% quota as unconstitutional.

Earlier:

Amid the on going political hustle in the state, the Gujarat High court today annulled the around 3 month old ordinance and other related notifications providing 10 per cent reservation to members of the economically weaker sections from unreserved category in the state terming it ‘unconstitutional’.

The division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi pronounced its judgement today. The court had reserved the verdict on July 18 after concluding the hearing.
The court observed that the total reservation in any case can’t exceed 50% limit. It also remarked that no survey or analysis of related date for the purpose was taken up..

Petitioners Dayaram Verma, Ravjibhai Manani, Dulari Basarge and Gujarat Parents’ Association had separately challenged the May 1 ordinance announcing reservation of 10 % seats to candidates belonging to the unreserved category with family income cap of Rs 6 lakh annually in government jobs and educational institutions. Their petitions were heard together. They had submitted that the reservation violates the Supreme Court’s order providing 50 per cent ceiling for reservation as per the Indra Sawhney vs Union of India case which the court has upheld in its judgement today.

They had further claimed that additional 10 per cent reservation further reduced the number of seats in educational institutions for candidates from unreserved category with annual family income of more than Rs 6 lakh.

They said the provision also violates the Constitution as Article 46 related to the directive principles of state policy, does not allow quota beyond the 50 per cent cap. The government counsel on the other hand had contended that the reservation is actually “a further classification in the general, open, unreserved category” and does not violate either the Supreme Court order or constitutional provisions. The state government, in its affidavit before the court had said the ordinance does not violate provisions of the Constitution nor does it go against the Supreme Court orders. It has said that the ordinance should be read with Article 46 of the Constitution (which states that social justice is required for weaker sections of the society) and not with reference to Backward Class quota.

On May 1, the state government had issued the ordinance providing 10 per cent reservation to persons from EWS from unreserved category other than the SC, ST and other reserved category for admissions in the educational institutions and government jobs. It has put the upper limit of annual family income for the benefit to Rs 6 lakh.

The state government has said that it would appeal against the judgement in the apex court at the earliest. Amid the hastened maneuvering for the search of outgoing CM Anandiben Patel in the state capital, government spokesperson minister Nitin Patel said that the government will take the legal fight on the issue to the Supreme Court.

DeshGujarat