Chhattisgarh Seeks 76% Quota
Context:
On Monday, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel requested that two amendment Bills allowing for higher quotas in jobs and educational institutions be incorporated in the Constitution’s Ninth Schedule.
Points to Ponder:
- Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting that two amendment Bills be included in the Constitution’s Ninth Schedule.
- The two amendment Bills provide for a 76% quota in jobs and educational institutions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes.
- The Ninth Schedule contains a list of Central and State laws that are uncontestable in court.
- The Chhattisgarh High Court ruled in September that a 2013 State government decree allowing a 58% quota was illegal, ruling that reservation above the 50% limit was invalid.
- Former Governor Anusuiya Uikey declined to sign the bills, citing a Supreme Court decision that limited reservations to 50%.
- Despite a change in guard, the deadlock between the administration and the Raj Bhavan has lasted four months.
- Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan has been urged by Chief Minister Baghel to either give his assent or return the Bills to the Assembly.
- Baghel highlighted the state’s demographics and asserted that the state’s OBC population has the same socioeconomic and educational conditions as the SC/ST people.
- Baghel argued in favor of raising the 50% threshold by citing the examples of other states and a 2022 Supreme Court judgment.
