AHMEDABAD: The thorny issue of reservation was finally resolved between
Congress and
Patidar quota warrior Hardik Patel on Wednesday with his outfit, Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (
PAAS), accepting the formula for quota under "special category" for Patidars and other non-reserved castes.
Though the
deal was brokered by Congress legal eagle
Kapil Sibal, he left it to Hardik to make the announcement to the media. Declaring his “direct and indirect” support to Congress, the PAAS convener said the party has assured “quota under Article 31 (C) of the Constitution which guarantees that it will be kept outside the purview of the judiciary”.
“Congress will pass a bill under Article 46 of the Constitution to ensure reservation in education and government jobs to the non-reserved communities,” he added.
Article 31 (C) of the Constitution provides that for achieving equality in society, a state government can make a policy which enjoys immunity from judicial scrutiny even though it is in contravention of other constitutional provisions.
However, a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court had held in 2007 that the insertion of a law in the Ninth Schedule will not save it from being struck down if, on judicial scrutiny, the law is found to be violating fundamental rights. In the I R Coelho case on January 11, 2007, the apex court ruled, “The constitutional validity of the Ninth Schedule laws on the touchstone of basic structure doctrine can be adjudged by applying the direct impact and effect test, that is the (fundamental) rights test, which means the form of an amendment is not the relevant factor, but the consequence thereof would be (the) determinative factor.”
Hardik emphasised before the media that the existing reservation system, which gives 49% reservation to SCs, STs and OBCs, “will remain intact”.
Letting go of his earlier demand that Patidars be given OBC status, Hardik said Congress has proposed
quota under the “special category”. “A proper plan, including the percentage of quota, will be chalked out after conducting a survey within a month of Congress coming to power. A commission for non-reserved communities will be constituted to provide equal opportunities in education and government jobs to the upper-caste communities,” he said, adding that Congress will “elaborate” on this in its manifesto.
Importantly, Congress refrained from getting into the specifics of how it plans to implement the “special category” quota, limiting itself to saying that it has the “wisdom” to find a way out.
When asked if he was sure Congress will keep its word, Hardik said, “They will have to.”
Speaking on the disputes between PAAS and Congress over ticket allocation, he said, “We did not seek any tickets from Congress. We had just asked them to give tickets to good candidates. In Surat, it was a spontaneous protest by the people to seek tickets for good candidates.”
Hardik, however, dodged a query about the late-night protest by his co-convener, Dinesh Bambhania, at the residence of Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki. “From now onwards, only I will speak on behalf of PAAS,” he added.
Sibal thanked Hardik for declaring his support for Congress for the Gujarat polls and said their united fight would dethrone BJP.