Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah has urged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to fix reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBC) based on the socio-economic survey (caste census) conducted by the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission and submit it to the Supreme Court to pave way for elections to the local bodies in the State.
‘Only solution’
”This is the only solution to the problem that has arisen out of the Supreme Court order on Tuesday. The State Government should seek legal opinion and consult the Opposition parties to prevent injustice to OBCs,” he said. He added that the apex court in 2010 said that reservation provided to education and employment cannot be implemented in politics. It had further said that political reservation can be provided based on the data collected by Backward Classes Commission and after vetting it at three levels.
“The Supreme Court has been reiterating the same since then. The court on Tuesday said that if political reservation is not possible for backward classes, the election has to be conducted with reservation to Scheduled Castes and Tribes in the local bodies election.” Mr. Siddaramaiah said despite the court stating that this will be applicable to all States, the BJP Government has taken a legal route and wasting time. “The State Government should not take this as an ego issue and in the public interest it should accept the Kantharaj Commission report.”
He said that the apex court in its earlier orders said that the State Government can provide data of earlier surveys to the new commission and based on it the commission can submit an interim report in two weeks. “By stating it, the court has also shown the way out of the problem. I had told the Chief Minister two months ago during the all party meeting convened to discuss the issue. However, the BJP Government is wasting time. The court has already rejected a hurried report prepared by the Maharashtra Backward Classes Commission stating that it was unscientific.”
State’s history
The former Chief Minister said the situation in Karnataka is different from other States. “Karnataka has conducted a door-to-door survey as part of socio economic census. No other State has conducted such a survey. The State was also first to provide reservation to the backward classes in Panchayat Raj bodies,” he said. Despite all these developments, if Karnataka fails to provide justice to backward classes, the government will be responsible, Mr. siddaramaiah warned.
