OBC quota for Jats not with eye on polls: Govt

Ahead of the Haryana assembly elections, the BJP-led NDA government on Monday told the Supreme Court that including the Jat community in the central OBC list was not a politically motivated act.

Ahead of the Haryana assembly elections, the BJP-led NDA government on Monday told the Supreme Court that including the Jat community in the central OBC list was not a politically motivated act.

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In an affidavit, the Centre supported the UPA regime’s decision to provide reservations to Jats. The SC would hear the petition challenging Jat reservation on Tuesday. The apex court had on April 9 rejected a plea to stay the Centre’s poll-eve notification to include Jats in the OBC list.

“It is respectfully submitted that the central government has acted bonafide and in public interest,” the 28-page affidavit said.

The Centre said it rejected the view of National Commission for Backward Classes and took into account the findings of a report of Expert Committee constituted by Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) before taking the decision. It added that nine states have already included Jats in their lists of OBCs.

“Cabinet was of the view that the Commission has not adequately taken into account the ground realities and therefore…decided to include Jat community in the central list of OBCs for the nine states namely Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan (Bharatpur and Dhaulpur), Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi,” it said.