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Madras High Court notice to Centre on 10 per cent quota for poor

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Madras High Court

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Madras High Court today (Monday, Jan 21) issued a notice to the Centre on a petition challenging the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019 providing 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) in the general category.

The HC has asked the Centre to file its reply by February 18.

The HC was hearing a petition, filed last week by DMK organising secretary RS Bharathi, stating that reservation was not a “poverty alleviation programme” but a “social justice programme to uplift communities which have not had access to education or employment and consequently do not have representation in the services of the state or in upper echelons of society.”

The Madras HC decision came after a bench of Justices S Manikumar and Subramoniam Prasad heard arguments made by the petitioner and the State.

Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate P Wilson argued that reservation was introduced in the interest of communities that are socially and educationally backward. The state cannot introduce new economic criteria, Bar and Bench quoted Wilson as saying.

“Tomorrow, a person who has an Audi car may come as EWS. The substance is that it is upper caste reservation…It affects the basic structure of the Constitution,” he said.

Defending the law, under which a family with gross annual income below Rs 8 lakh will be eligible for reservation, ASG Rajagopalan, appearing for the state, said the petition was moved in political interest rather than public interest. Rajagopalan argued that Bharathi cannot misuse the court to achieve what he could not achieve in the Rajya Sabha.

Opposing the contentions, senior advocate and former additional solicitor-general P Wilson submitted that it was the union government which was opposing the case politically.

Wilson said reservations were not poverty alleviation programmes but were more in the nature of social justice to uplift communities which had not had access to education or employment for centuries.

“Therefore, essentially, the exception to the equality clause is only available to those communities which were ostracised for centuries in matters of education and employment. However, economic criteria have been used as a filter to exclude the creamy layer, persons belong to the backward classes but who are economically advanced. Hence, application of economic criteria solely is not contemplated as an exception to the rule of equality, and consequently to provide reservation solely on economic criteria offends the basic structure of the Constitution,” he added.

Holding that the DMK’s petition opposing reservation for economically weaker sections among forward communities is not politically motivated, Madras HC issued notice to the Centre.

“The Constitution talks about Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Backward and other communities. Who could be persons falling under other communities?” asked the HC Bench, said a Times of India (TOI) report.

When ASG Rajagopalan said, they are the communities which do not figure on the reservation radar, the bench asked,“Who are they?”

The bench then ordered notice to the union government and directed it to file its reply by February 18.

The 10 per cent reservation, passed in Parliament and ratified by the President, will be in addition to the existing cap of 50 per cent reservation for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes, taking the total reservation to 60 per cent.

The reservation in Tamil Nadu is already at 69 per cent due to the operation of the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes, Schedules Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 1993 (Tamil Nadu Act 45 of 1993) which has the protection of Article 31-B and has been placed in the IXth Schedule of the Constitution.

Therefore, in Tamil Nadu, the reservation cannot exceed the 69 per cent when compared to other states, where it cannot exceed 50 per cent of the total seats available since the same would then be contradictory to the principle enshrined in Articles 14, 15(1) and 16 (1) of the Constitution, the petition contended.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Sunita Kejriwal holds maiden Lok Sabha election roadshow in Delhi

Sunita Kejriwal will also hold a road show in West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday. AAP party leaders said Sunita Kejriwal will also spearhead the campaign for AAP candidates in South Delhi and New Delhi constituencies as well as in Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab.

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Aam Aadmi Party began its campaign for 3rd phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Saturday with Sunita Kejriwal, wife of jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal holding a roadshow in Delhi. In a massive rally, Sunita Kejriwal was be seen standing on a vehicle holding her hands and greeting the people of the area. AAP’s East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar was seen sitting on the vehicle as he showcased a portrait of Rani Laxmibai.

Earlier ahead of Sunita Kejrieal’s roadshow, Kuldeep Kumar told the media that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who worked to provide the best school, and free- electricity to the people of Delhi has been framed in a fake case by BJP. Kumar further added that from today onwards Sunita Kejriwal’s roadshow will start and she is going to seek support and blessings from the Delhi people to continue its fight against the BJP government.

Aam Aadmi Party workers also staged a protest under the banner of Jail ka jawab vote se near Delhi’s Lakshmi Nagar area on Saturday against the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in connection with an excise policy case.

After the Delhi CM’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the liquor policy case in March, Sunita Kejriwal has taken up a more prominent role in campaigning activities for the Aam Aadmi Party. Since the Delhi CM’s arrest, Atishi and other AAP leaders have alleged that the arrest was made so that to the AAP Supremo can be prevented from campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections. Arvind Kejriwal has been sent to judicial custody until May 7.

Sunita Kejriwal will also hold a road show in West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday. AAP party leaders said Sunita Kejriwal will also spearhead the campaign for AAP candidates in South Delhi and New Delhi constituencies as well as in Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab. She is emerging as a star campaigner for Aam Aadmi Party.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Mallikarjun Kharge says candidates for Amethi, Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh will be announced in a few days

On being asked about the names of the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies Mallikarjun Kharge said the people will have to wait for a few more days. He said when the names of candidates come from people to him and he will sign the notification, then the announcement will be made.

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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that the candidates for prestigious Amethi and Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh will be announced in a few days. He was addressing a press conference where he claimed that though the BJP says the corrupt must be put in jails, when leaders facing corruption charges join the saffron party, they are put on the lap and sent to Rajya Sabha or assembly.

On being asked about the names of the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies he said the people will have to wait for a few more days. He said when the names of candidates come from people to him and he will sign the notification, then the announcement will be made.

On being questioned about Congress leaders changing constituencies Kharge asked how many times have Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani changed their seats. His response came when asked about the BJP criticising Rahul Gandhi for fighting the elections from Kerala’s Wayanad instead of Amethi. Referring to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Kharge said the Congress is not affected by people who grew up in the party and left it later.

The Congress president launched an all round attack on the BJP and PM Modi and said the prime minister did not implement even one of his electoral promises and still says Modi did a lot of work for the country. Addressing the press conference he said the BJP never fought for the independence of India, but Congress is a party of those who made India independent. He said the BJP never fought for the independence of India, for the development of India. The Congress President said the BJP speaks so much about patriotism and that the contribution of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri is nothing before them.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Priyanka Gandhi accuses BJP of planning to change the Constitution, criticises PM Modi for inflation

Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally at Dharampur village of tribal dominated Valsad district held in support of Congress candidate for ST-reserved Valsad Lok Sabha seat, Anant Patel.

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Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday said the BJP may be denying it now, but the party will change the Constitution if it returns to power. She targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over inflation and called him the mehengai man.

Gandhi said the BJP leaders and candidates are saying that they will change the Constitution. She said PM Modi is denying it and this is BJP’s tactic. Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally at Dharampur village of tribal dominated Valsad district, Gujarat held in support of Congress candidate for ST-reserved Valsad Lok Sabha seat, Anant Patel.

Gandhi said first the BJP will deny what they want to do. But after coming to power they will implement it. She further added the BJP wants to change the constitution to weaken the common people and deprive them of their rights given in the Constitution. She said the BJP leaders project the Prime Minister as powerful and say that chutki bajake ladai rukwa dete hai (he can stop the Russia- Ukraine war with the snap of his fingers). She asked why is Prime Minister unable to remove poverty just like that?

Priyanka Gandhi claimed the tribal population in Gujarat which is Modi’s home state and the whole country is suffering from issues like rising inflation, unemployment, low remumberation, loss of land, violence against women and other atrocities. She highlighted the Congress manifesto and said it addresses issues faced by the tribal population.

She assured the people that the Congress will bring schemes like MGNREGA for urban areas where families will get 100 days of guaranteed work. She said the Congress is committed to filing about 30 lakh vacancies in government jobs, providing subsidised diesel to fishermen and take the minimum wage to Rs 400. Gandhi said the Congress is going to work out sub plans for Scheduled Tribes and scheduled castes.

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