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Former high court judge to head panel to study caste-wise data in Tamil Nadu
Only last week, CM E Palaniswami had announced that a panel will study the data and submit a report following his meting with PMK leader A Ramadoss whose party is demanding quota for the Vanniyar community in government jobs and education
Tamil Nadu on Monday appointed retired high court judge A Kulasekaran to lead a committee that would be set up to gather case-wise data in the state.
This comes after chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami had announced last week that a panel will study the data and submit a report following his meeting with PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss. The PMK is demanding 20% reservation for the Vanniyar community in government jobs and education.
One of PMK’s demands has been for the government to constitute a panel to examine the beneficiaries of reservation from each caste as it believes only 4 to 6% of Vanniyars have benefited. But the government’s panel refers only to forming a methodology to collect quantifiable caste data. Palaniswami had earlier said that this data will be useful for a case pending in the Supreme Court on 69% reservation policy in Tamil Nadu.
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The PMK and its parent outfit, Vanniyar Sangam, have revived this old demand ahead of the 2021 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu where it is an ally of the AIADMK. PMK workers from other districts reportedly indulged in violence and stalled traffic on the first day of their agitation on December 1 as police did not allow them to enter Chennai. Similar agitations were put to rest after the Most Backward Category (MBC) was created in the late 1980s in which Vanniyars were among the 108 other caste groups that were included.
